Background
Vijaya Bai was the second daughter of Shivaji, the last Maratha ruler of Tanjore and Kamakshi Bai, the queen of Tanjore and was born in 1846.
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Career
However, her position was purely titular and apart from customary privileges, she had little authority. Shivaji died in 1855. In the absence of a natural male heir to the throne, Tanjore was annexed by the British East India Company as per the newly constituted Doctrine of Lapse.
Nine-year-old Vijaya Bai assumed the title of Queen of Tanjore on 31 October 1855 after the British refused to recognise the claims of Serfoji III, an adopted son of Shivaji II, but she had little authority in the kingdom apart from certain customary privileges.
The dispossessed queen was extremely and waged an unsuccessful legal battle to get her authority restored. With the permission of the Madras government, Vijaya Bai married Sakharam Saheb, the prince of Kolhapur and the widower of Princess Rajur Bai in about 1859.
