Until recently, history had relegated Mastani to forgotten pages as a dancing girl - a myth kept alive by lack of evidence about her true place in the Peshwa household. Daughter of Maharaj Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand, Mastani married Peshwa Baji Rao I while he was in power, but she was obscured almost to anonymity by several forces. Her life as a strategist, both on the field and at home, was veiled with intrigue due to the jealousies of women in zenanas and power-hungry relatives in the Peshwai.

What was Mastani's story? Was being a true companion to the Peshwa as well as his most loved wife a threat large enough to snuff her out in the pages of history? Fascinated for years by the secrecy behind her life and death, Kusum Choppra unravels the mysterious surrounding the deaths of both Peshwa Baji Rao I and his second wife. The novel explores Mastani's royal lineage and the elegant bearing of a warrior princess caught in the political web of a changing empire.