Ahilyabai Holkar
Every time you visit famous temples, you should thank one woman who made many of them possible - that’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, and here’s her story.
Ahilyabai lived through the 1700s in Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh when after Aurangzeb’s death, the new Maratha Empire saw its peak under the leadership of Peshwa Bajirao.
Ahiliyabai was kind & smart as a kid, and married very early, but her husband was killed when she was hardly 30, leaving her widowed with two kids.
She quickly picked up statecraft, strategy, administration, and military affairs from her father-in-law, Malhar Rao.
When her son, too, died of mental illness, court nobles tried to cheat her into giving up her power, but she got support & took charge of the Holkar estate at 42 years, doing two miraculous things.
First, she knew exactly how to run a state - creating incentives, tax breaks, tarrifs, policies, and favourable conditions for business, trade, agriculture, and industries like textiles to flourish freely. Under her, Indore and Maheshwar bloomed as cultural & industrial centres.
She also built a strong military, kept enemies at bay, and built a self-sufficient empire of her own.
After gaining considerable wealth & power, she turned to her real mission.
An open-minded but devoted Hindu worshipper of Shiva, Ahilyabai either restored, constructed or financially supported the upkeep of a massive pan-India network of temples which had suffered under the Mughal rule.
Some spots she left her mark at are:
+ Kashi Vishwanath, Varanasi
+ Somnath, Gujarat
+ Mahkaleshwar, Ujjain
+ Grishneshwar, Ellora
+ Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu
+ Dwarkadesh, Gujarat
+ Sri Ram Mandir, Nepal (Janakpur)
+ Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura
+ Sharadha Peeth in Sringeri
She also built the infrastructure around these temples - which includes bathing & worship ghats for devotees, dharmashalas for the poor, chhatris & sarais offering free food & water to travellers, wells, roads, hospitals, schools, etc.
By backing our temples, this one woman ensured the continuity of Hindu worship & faith in a critical time, impacting 200+ temples, shrines & locations from Prayag in the North to Godavari in the South & beyond.
She is a symbol of brave yet smart female leadership, earning her the title “Lokamata” - Mother of the People. That’s why today, she has her own stamp, an airport and many institutions named in her honour.
Surprisingly, her charities & trust still fund + maintain the temples of her property to this very day.