Baiza Bai - Kate Sharma's Inspiration

 Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few months I’m sure you will have seen everyone falling in love with the amazing Kate and Edwina Sharma on Bridgerton!

While it is amazing to have such South Asian representation on Netflix’s biggest shows – did you know that Kate’s character is actually based on a real person? Bridgerton writers worked with Dr Priya Atwal, author of Royal Rebels to create an authentic eighteenth-century Indian heroine, based on real life shero, Baiza Bai. And her story is (imo) even more blockbuster worthy than the Sharma sisters’.  

(Credit to one of my favourite historians, Dr Priya Atwal, for this thread and for helping to create the character of Kathani Sharma and also to inspire me and others to delve into the history behind her!

Baiza Bai (also known as Baza Bai and Baeza Byee; 1784 - 1863) was a Scindia maharani and banker, who ascended to the throne of the Scinidia kingdom after the death of her third husband. She rued from 1827 – 1833, in which time she actively fought the British East India Company before being ousted from power and replaced with her adopted son.  

Baiza Bai was born in Kagal, Kolhapur in 1784 to Sunderabai and Sakharam Ghatge, members of the nobility under Kolhapur’s Bhonsle rulers. At just 14, she was married to Daulat Rao Scindia, the ruler of Gwalior. She became his favourite wife and the couple had many children, although sadly both outlived their son.

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Like Bridgerton’s Miss Sharma, she was known as a superb horsewoman, and had been trained to fight with a sword and spear. She accompanied her husband during the Maratha wars with the British, and fought against Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, at the Battle of Assaye. 

Scindia looked to Baiza Bai for help in administrative and state matters. There is an account depicting her objection to the annexation of Udapaipur on the grounds that the chief Rajput state should not be destroyed. 

Just as Kate Sharma worked to secure her sister’s status as “Diamond of the Season”, Baiza Bai obtained high positions for her relatives in the Scindia court. Her father was made Dewan of Gwalior, although his anti-British sentiments, reportedly caused tension between him and his son-in-law. Following the Scindia defeat in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, a treaty signed with the East India Company explicitly excluded Sakharam from any governing role in Gwalior. Under the terms of the same treaty, Baiza Bai was granted a grant of 200,000 rupees a year, however, it is believed that her husband kept this sum for himself. I guess the Sharma sisters weren’t the only one’s who found out the hard way that family, business, and marriage don’t always mix well together! 

By 1809, Sakharam had managed to insinuate himself back into the circles of power within the court though he remained unpopular. He had several rivals, including Deoba Gauli, the Subahdar of Gwalior. In 1809, Sakharam Ghatge was murdered following a physical altercation he had with Daulat Rao. Baiza Bai suspected Gauli of instigating the crime, and under her influence, Daulat Rao dismissed him from his position. He was assassinated in 1812. In 1813, her brother Hindu Rao was made Dewan of Gwalior, and in 1816, her uncle Babaji Patankar was offered the post.

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In her early reign, Baiza Bai appears to have shared her father's anti-British stance. During the British campaign against the Pindaris, she had urged her husband to support the Peshwa Baji Rao II against them. When he instead submitted to British demands, she even left him briefly, accusing him of cowardice. She was also fiercely opposed to the Scindia surrender of Ajmer to the British. 

By the time the mercantile East India Company (EIC) became the paramount power in India, they had also become active competitors against native Indian merchant bankers, which brought them into direct contact with Baiza Bai. In the 1810s, she herself was a large-scale financier in her own right. She was involved in money-lending, bills of exchange, and speculation, all of which made her immensely wealthy. Furthermore, Ujjain, which was the centre of central Indian finance and commerce in the first half of the 1800s, was firmly under her control. 

In Ujjain, Baiza Bai was the head of two banking firms: Nathji Kishan Das and Nathji Bhagwan Das. There is correspondence between her and the governor general complaining about the British seizure of her banking house in Benaras, which would result in "the name of the firm [being] lost".

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As Baiza Bai was not seen to be amenable to British control, the East India Company thought to obtain a large loan from her in return for an implicit understanding of her Regency for life. In 1827, they requested 10,000,000 rupees, of which she lent 8 million. The company had hoped she might write off the loan, but she insisted that the principal and interest were repayable to her personally. The Company sought to raise the funds from one of the district’s most wealthy financier’s, Mani Ram, but Bai pressured him not to extend any credit. The competition in the opium trade from Central India had already badly affected the British; now their military and commercial operations in the territories began to suffer. Eventually, they paid off the loan to Baiza Bai. Cleverly, she managed to get the funds deposited in her bank in Benaras. 

Undeterred by her determination, the British tried to elicit another loan from her to fund their campaign in Burma. However, she outwitted them by persuading them that she was herself bankrupt, by submitting her own loan application for the sum of a million rupees.

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On 21 March 1827, her husband died, leaving no clear succession. However, he did advise the British Resident in his court, Major Josiah Stewart, that he wanted Baiza Bai to rule as regent. Not long after his death, however, Baiza Bai's brother, Hindu Rao, presented an unsigned document purporting to be Daulat Rao's will and stating his intention to adopt a son to rule as successor. Hindu Rao was appointed as an executor of the 'will', but its validity was widely disputed.  There is some evidence that Baiza Bai and her brother wanted to select this successor. Their first choice was someone from her maternal family. On the advice of the royal priest, this choice was set aside; the successor had to be from Daulat Rao's side of the family. On 17 June 1827, an eleven-year-old boy called Mukut Rao from the Scindia family, was adopted as heir to the throne, and given the royal name Jankoji Rao Scindia. 

Baiza Bai intended to keep the rule of the Scindia kingdom in her hands. There is some evidence that she attempted to keep Jankoji reined in by marrying him off to her granddaughter. The children were married, but the granddaughter died soon after. She then tried to persuade the British that her married daughter's unborn child might become the Scindia heir. The British government rejected the argument on the basis that the Scindia court and the military had both accepted Jankoji's adoption. 

In 1830, she informed the Resident that supporters of Jankoji were scheming to overthrow her. She requested his permission to confiscate their property and exile them. She also requested that her regency be allowed to continue. The Resident forwarded the message to the Governor General's office, which refused to interfere in the internal matters of an independent state. (The British? Refusing to interfere in foreign affairs? First time for everything I guess!)

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When Jankoji attained majority, Baiza Bai was demoted to Queen Mother (Rajmata). Displeased by this, her relationship with the adopted heir began to deteriorate. She had restricted his education as he grew up; now, she refused to add his name to the state seal and kept him under guard as much as possible. Other than insisting that Jankoji's seal should always be used in official communications, the British continued to stay out of the affair, even when Jankoji escaped to the Residency and asked for protection, claiming he feared for his safety.  

In December 1832, the British Governor General, Lord William Bentinck, arrived in Gwalior. Jankoji met him to demand that the kingship be given to him; in return, he promised to hand over a quarter of his income to Bentinck. The Governor General was upset by the attempted bribery, whereupon Jankoji asked if there would be any British objections should he order his guns to be fired on Baiza Bai. Bentinck was amused but he did object. While Bentinck informed Baiza Bai that the British would support Jankoji's claim to the throne of Gwalior, Jankoji attempted to instigate a military coup against her. He intended the revolt to occur on the last day of Muharram, a Shia religious festival, as the replica of the tomb of Husain, the martyred grandson of Muhammad, that is carried in processions during the Shiʽite festival of Muharram were taken into mosque. Baiza Bai discovered the plot and scuppered the plan by ordering the tazias to be organised before dawn, at which time the conspirators were asleep.

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A "sophisticated and ruthless businesswoman", some records state that she didn't pay her troops for long periods, forcing them to borrow funds from her instead. Yet according to other accounts, she was a capable, efficient administrator, and paid her troops on time. She collaborated with the British in the suppression of Thuggee (Indian gangs) and banned female infanticide. 

By 1832, with the help of her able minister Raoji Trimbak, she had managed to establish state control over finances. This entailed delicate manoeuvring with the military and the revenue farmers. When Trimbak died, she continued the policy but began to alienate some of the powers in court. Her pursuit of merchant bankers in particular began to backfire as they rallied around Jankoji in opposition to her. 

By 1834, Baiza Bai had lost the support of the Scindia army and many members of the administration. By this time, the East India Company had changed its earliest stance of non-interference in Gwalior's state affairs and actively supported Jankoji. The new Resident, Mark Cavendish, was opposed to Baiza Bai and, on Bentinck's orders, encouraged Jankoji to overthrow her. She and her palace attendants fled to the Residency, where Cavendish treated her badly, refusing her entry into the building and allowing her only to pitch tents in his gardens. She and her party were drenched under monsoon showers; after they abated, Cavendish insisted on her leaving immediately into exile. 

Facing ruin, Baiza Bai fled to Agra, while her brother settled in Delhi. (7/11) 

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However, even within British spheres, there was much discontent over Baiza Bai’s exile. The Agra Moffussil Akhbar, a newspaper run in Agra by a Company army-man, considered Jankoji a usurper, and carried attacks against Cavendish for having supported him. Nontheless, the few factions who supported her were not enough to reistate her to power. During her regency, Baiza Bai had amassed a considerable fortune, which she banked at Benares. She managed to maintain control over the treasure she took with her during her flight from Gwalior, and she spent the rest of her life trying to find somewhere to settle, being constantly harassed by the British wherever she tried to lay roots.  

In 1835, Baiza Bai met Fanny Parkes, a Welsh travel-writer. The women bonded over horsemanship when Bai mocked the English style of side-saddle riding. She challenged Parkes to ride in the usual way whereupon Parkes endeared herself to the Rani by riding in Mahratta style in Maratha costume. This provided direct inspiration for Kate Sharma’s masculine-riding style in Bridgerton.  

Parkes recounted how Baiza Bai's ambitions were hindered by the British as well as the Indians in her party. Parkes also reported how the Bai was forcibly moved from camp to camp, while her monies were often confiscated under duress. Parkes also tells one illuminating story of Baiza leading troops into battle "with a lance in her hand, and her infant in her arms." This image powerfully sums up the fighting spirit that we have seen in Baiza Bai so far, never able to be outwitted or overpowered by a man.

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In 1841, she moved to Nasik, where she earned an annual pension of 400,000 rupees from the British government. The British remained suspicious of her, especially when a rebellion near Poona was uncovered. There were allegations that she had either provided cover for couriers around the Deccan or funded military expenses. There was sufficient anxiety on the part of the British as to her involvement for the governor general to write to her 'warning her of the necessity of the most guarded conduct on her part to prevent any further similar reports.' She denied the accusations but her name figured again when another revolt occurred in 1842 in Asirgarh. She managed to keep the British at bay, alternately indicating that she was a pious woman dedicated purely to God, and complaining that her income from the British was insufficient. 

After Jankoji's death in 1843, Baiza Bai was able to marry her granddaughter Chimnabai to his successor Jayaji Rao Scindia. The new maharaja would then inherit her massive fortune, reputed to be several crores of rupees, but was thereby forced to deal with repayment of the various debts she owed the British. Among other terms of the deal, Baiza Bai was allowed to return to live in Scindia territory, while the city and district of Ujjain would be restored to her control. 

Between 1847 and 1856, Baiza Bai was in Ujjain. She returned to Gwalior in 1856.

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Baiza Bai again came under suspicion during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Although Gwalior, among the major princely states, had not risen against the British, though Jayaji's army deserted him. When the rebels, led by Tantia Tope and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi (another queen I’ll be writing about in my book) occupied Gwalior, Baiza Bai along with Jayaji looked for British protection. She was able to take the Scindia queens to safety to Narwar. However, it is also clear that the rebels respected her: Tantia Tope kept up a correspondence with her, urging her to take over the rule of Gwalior – even though Bai handed these letters to the British to convince them that she could be trusted. Clearly, she was able to walk a fine line to maintain a cordial relationship with her family, the rebels as well as the British. 

Baiza Bai died in Gwalior in 1863. 

There are several tangible remnants of Baiza Bai's philanthropy and support of the arts and religion. As a queen and dowager, she endowed temples and worship grounds across the Scindia domains as well as sacred sites in North India.

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Thus, while Kathani Sharma of Bridgerton may not have been depicted fighting battles with babe in hand, amassing fortunes at the expense of armies, or liasing with armed rebellions, there are clear similarities in their “masculine” traits such as their love of shooting and horseriding, as well as their obstinance, determination, and the tug of loyalty they felt between the British and their Indian homeland.  

I’ll end by quoting Dr Atwal again: “It’s so great to see talented actresses like Simone Ashley & Charithra Chandran making waves. But let’s not forget that generations before, brown women had major political & socio-cultural roles to play: a past that patriarchy & colonialism has blinded us to for too long. Now’s the time to research, appreciate & share such histories. If Bridgerton caught your attention, get your on high horse and go read, write & tell these stories with all the care and creativity you can muster!” 

(Ps, that is actually what I’ve been doing, so apologies for the lack of frequent posts of late – my book calls and the stories of more amazing South Asian ladies are captivating all my time and attention, but I’m still here, I promise)