Centuries after her reign ended, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar still commands reverence that cuts across time and politics. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday, 13 August 2026, marked her death anniversary with a heartfelt tribute, honouring the 18th-century Holkar queen as a lokmata — mother of the people — whose life's mission was the service of Sanatan culture.

Posting in Hindi, CM Saini wrote: 'On the death anniversary of the great warrior-queen Devi Ahilyabai Holkar — a supreme devotee of Lord Shiva who made public welfare the foundation of her governance — I bow to her with countless salutations. The lokmata who made the service of Sanatan culture the purpose of her life performed the great work of restoring temples and pilgrimage sites across the country, preserving our glorious cultural heritage. Her sacrifice, penance, and service to the nation will be remembered for ages.'

Who was Ahilyabai Holkar — and why she still matters

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar ruled the Holkar dynasty's territory of Indore from 1767 to 1795, a reign of nearly three decades that left a physical imprint on India's sacred geography. She funded and oversaw the restoration of some of Hinduism's most revered shrines — among them the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the Somnath temple in Gujarat, and sites in Ayodhya and Dwarka — at a time when many had fallen into disrepair or ruin.

Her legacy is not merely religious. Historians credit her with an unusually enlightened administrative record: she built roads and rest-houses, maintained law and order, and is remembered in folk memory as a ruler who governed for the people rather than over them. The title lokmata — people's mother — is the popular distillation of that memory.

BJP's recurring tribute to pre-colonial Hindu rulers

The post is part of a consistent pattern in BJP political messaging: marking the death and birth anniversaries of pre-colonial rulers associated with temple restoration, dharmic governance, and cultural continuity. For the party, figures like Ahilyabai Holkar serve as living proof of an unbroken civilisational thread — a counter-narrative to colonial-era accounts that often marginalised indigenous statecraft.

CM Saini's tribute, framed around 'sacrifice, penance, and service to the nation,' places the queen squarely within that larger cultural project. The language — yugon-yugon tak smaraneey rahegi (will be remembered for ages) — is a deliberate invocation of timelessness, not just a ceremonial gesture.

Whether Haryana marks the anniversary with state-level heritage or cultural events remains to be confirmed, but the Chief Minister's public tribute signals that Ahilyabai's memory is very much alive in the political present.