My ancestor Sardar Bhikajirao Mahurkar (1760-1800) played a key role in the Maratha victory against Tipu Sultan’s forces in 1786 Battle of Badami Fort in Karnataka in which his brother Viharjirao was martyred. Earlier he was injured in the 3rd Battle of Panipat while fighting against Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali from Peshwa’s contigent.
In the Badami expedition Bhikajirao fought under the famous Maratha commander Haripant Phadke
I draw great inspiration from my ancestors & therefore I got this imaginary battle image of Bhikajirao designed for my own, my family’s & my clan’s satisfaction.
In my ongoing battle against purveyors of perverted content, one of the main causes of rape cases in the country, I mainly draw inspiration from my ancestors who first fought under the Peshwa & then under rhe great Maratha general & statesman, Mahadji Scindia, who controlled large parts of India in the last lap of the 18th century. They fought in the all the major battles under Mahadji after 1780.
Mahurkar clan draws its surname from village Mahur in Pune district, a few kilometres away from the famous Purandar Fort. Our clan is Solanki which is pronounced at Salunke in Marathi ( Gotra Bharadwaj).
Spread over vast parts of India, from North to South including Karnataka, the Solanki , Chalukya or Baghel clan, has played a key role in the evolution of Bharat in the past 1500 years. Chalukya emperor Pulkeshin-II stopped Emperor Harshvardhan from crossing the Narmada while trying to invade South in 7th century.
Later in 11th century King Siddhraj Jaisingh Solanki, while ruling from Patan in Gujarat, ruled over an empire whose northern boundary was Ajmer & southern boundary touched Karnataka. He was maternal great grandfather of Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan.
Bhairavdas Solanki of Toda Jagir immortalised himself while laying down his life against Gujarat Sultan Bahadur Shah in his 1535 siege of Chittorgarh in which Rani Karmavati ( widow of Rana Sanga) committed Jauhar with 13,000 Rajput women. The Bhairav Pole at Chittorgarh is named after Bhairavdas Solanki.
The Baghel royal of Rewa, in which famous kings like Maharaja Venkatnarayan Singh & Maharaja Martand Singh were born & which gifted Tansen to Mughal emperor Akbar, is also descended from Solankis of Gujarat.