Peshwa Madhavrao I (officiated 1761-1772) was born in 1745 and married Ramabai (1750-1772) in 1758. He became the 9th Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Maratha Confederacy (1674–1818) in 1761. Seeking to expand the Maratha dominions, in 1770 he launched a third military campaign against Sultan Hyder Ali Khan of Mysore, Karnataka (r. 1761–1782). Soon stricken by tuberculosis, however, he had to retire from the field of battle and spent his last days in the Ganesha Chintamani Temple in Theur near Pune. He died in 1772 and was cremated on the nearby bank of the Bhima River. A multitude of disconsolate citizens attended the ceremony to pay their last respects. In accordance with the ancient Hindu tradition, his grieving widow Ramabai chose to commit self-immolation (suttee or sati) by joining him on the funeral pyre. In this memorializing image, the ashen corpse of Madhavrao I and his still conscious wife Ramabai lie together on a flaming pyre. The distraught populace and officials are gathered around the pyre. Many of the men are visibly agitated and pointing towards the pyre. Several of the women are crying and two in the foreground need to be physically supported by their companions. The personage in the double-canopied howdah atop the elephant may be the succeeding Peshwa, Narayanrao Bhat (officiated 1772-1773). The elephant-back dignitary on the left may be the chief secretary Nana Fadnavis (or Phadnis, 1742-1800) or another important minister Sakharam Bapu Bokil (1700-1781).