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The Cremation of Peshwa Madhavrao I (officiated 1761-1772) and the Sati of his Wife Ramabaicirca 1772-1775

Not on view
South Asian manuscript painting, large crowd gathered around a blazing central funeral pyre, with two elephants, onlookers, and billowing smoke against a teal background
Opaque watercolor manuscript illustration in Mughal style; a funeral pyre with orange flames and gray smoke dominates the teal background, with reclining figures visible within; attendants, elephants, and riders appear at lower corners
Indian manuscript painting, two reclining figures on a bordered pyre engulfed in stylized orange flames with swirling blue-grey smoke rising against a teal background; detailed flat brushwork with cloud formations above.
Mughal-style opaque watercolor manuscript painting depicting a royal procession; two caparisoned elephants with ornate pink and orange trappings carry riders with spears, accompanied by a white horse and a dense crowd of attendants in colorful turbans and garments; flames and faces visible in upper left; teal-green background with fine detail throughout.
Indian opaque watercolor painting depicting a dense crowd of figures in colorful garments — reds, oranges, yellows, and blues — gesturing and turning toward a large serpent tail visible at upper right, against a teal background with sparse vegetation; fine detailed brushwork in a Pahari or Rajput style.
Artist or Maker
Unknown
Title
The Cremation of Peshwa Madhavrao I (officiated 1761-1772) and the Sati of his Wife Ramabai
Place Made
India, Maharashtra, Pune (Poona)
Date Made
circa 1772-1775
Medium
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
Sheet (Sheet): 11 3/4 x 16 1/4 in. (29.845 x 41.275 cm) Image (Image): 11 1/2 x 16 in. (29.21 x 40.64 cm) Frame: 18 × 22 in. (45.72 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Dorothy and Richard Sherwood and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart
Accession Number
M.77.15
Classification
Drawings
Collecting Area
South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes

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).