He was born in Konkan in 1697
He left Konkan between 1697-98 and came to Kapshi-Berewadi in Maharashtra.
Govind Hari became employed with the Peshwa in the year 1719
He was married to Satyabhama Bai Patankar sister of Mahadeo Bhat Patankar for Rajapur in Konkan and later when the Patwardhans received the Jagir Mahadeo Bhat became the Mujumdar (an Officer) of the Patwardhans.
Govind Hari had five sons and one daughter namely;
- Gopalrao Raosaheb 1721- 17th January 1771 (Known as the first Rao of the Peshwai)
- Vamanrao Babasaheb 1725- 2nd October 1775(he died at Jainbad) both his brothers Pandurangrao and Gangadharrao were at Miraj when he died. He had two daughters so the so the Jaghir was granted in favour of his brother Pandurangrao.
- Pandurangrao Tatyasaheb 1730- 4th November 1777(he was injured in the battle of Sawashi against Hyder Ali and later died as a prisoner of war at Srirangapattnam)
- Gangadharrao Balasaheb 1741- 1809
- Hariharrao Bapusaheb 1765- 7th June 1782
-Dates courtesy Shri Mansinghrao Kumthekar
In 1728/29 Bajirao Peshwa 1st attacked Marwa and defeated Raja Dayal Bahadur who was a Subedar, Govind Hari and his younger brother Ramchandra Hari participated in this war and Ramchandra Hari got as a reward for their efforts a Saranjam of 2500 cavalry.
In 1730 Bajirao 1st thought that Govind Hari was capable so he gave him the Diwangiri/Phadnishi of the Indroji Kadam Paga near Shaniwar Wada.
In 1731 Bajirao learnt that Trimbakrao Dhabade wanted to join the Nizam, so he went to battle against Trimbakrao Dhabade in Talegaon with Govind Hari and defeated Dhabade.
Indroji kadam died in 1736 so the Peshwa gave the Paga to Govind Hari.
In 1737 Mir Hassan Koka, Musaffar Jung Bakshi, Raje Shiv Singh and others attacked Delhi, so the Peshwa sent Govind Hari along with his forces to avenge the attack on Delhi. Shiv Singh Hari was killed, Mir Hassan Koka was injured and their forces ran away.
During this time Nadir Shah attacked Delhi and Karimuddin(the then Wazir of Delhi) attacked the Maratha army in 1737 but the Peshwa’s Huzorath forces, Sakahoji Jadhav, Ranoji Bhosale and Govind Hari attacked the army of Karimuddin and defeated him.( Reference Marathi Riasat)
Between 1736-39 under the captaincy of Chimnaji Appa (brother of Bajirao) there was an attack on Tarapur (which was basically the attack on the fort of Wasai because this fort was the centre of Tarapur lands) to free it from the Portuguese control. During this expedition Govind Hari, Ramchandra Hari and Baji Bevrao Retrekar( in charge of the Huzorath forces of Bajirao) captured Wasai and brought it into Swaraj. (This information was derived from the letter of Chimnaji Appa to Brahmendra Swami vide letter dated 24th January 1739)
Chhatrasal Bundhel had given some land to Bajirao along with Mastani but the area given was not divided but the son of Chhatrasal would send Bajirao some money from there every year. So Nanasaheb Peshwa attacked Bundelkhand in 1741 along with the Patwardhan battalion with Govind Hari at its head.
Attack on Nevase in 1748-49 Nanasaheb Peshwa and Sadhashivrao Bhau (son of Chimnaji Appa) went to North India and attacked Dhar and Govind Hari courageously fought this war and was asked to keep his army to hold the conquered area.
On 15th December 1749 Chhatrapati Shahu passed away and soon after that Govind Hari handed management of the Paga to his son Gopalrao and brought Purshotam Daji Patwardhan and started withdrawing himself from active warfare.
In 1750 Ramchandra Hari passed away in North India at Shivraspur. Ramchandra Hari’s son Parshuram Bhau (born 1740) came under the guardianship of his uncle Govind Hari.
1757-58 Battle of Shindekhed; Govind Hari, Gopalrao, Purushotam Daji, Neelkanth Trimbak fought against the Nizam of Hyderabad with their Battalions as the Nizam refused to pay tribute.
In 1760 at the battle of Udgir Govind Hari again fought with brothers and sons against the Nizam as he refused to pay.
In 1761 Miraj Killa along with territories of revenue of 27 lacs was granted as Saranjam and control of lands between Krishna and Tungabadra rivers was granted to Govind Hari by Madhavrao Peshwa, even though this Killa was previously with his father in law Joshi(Father of Rama Baisaheb Peshwa)
In 1762-63 Raghunathrao and Madhavrao had a misunderstanding and a battle was fought as Ghod nadi and Madhavrao Peshwa lost the war and surrendered to Raghunathrao. Raghunathrao was keen to be the Peshwa and Sakharam Bapu Bokil a very competent diplomat was with Raghunathrao and was successfully able to incite treason in the ranks of Madhavrao Peshwa by means of bribes, threats and persuasion. Madhavrao was put under house arrest and Raghunathrao attacked Miraj Killa the reason was Raghunathrao did not like the Patwardhans. During this period Patwardhans had taken loans from money lenders by signing Hundis (Bills of exchange) and Govind Hari was requesting the Peshwa to pay off a certain amount as these loans were taken for the empire. Raghunathrao did not want to pay this amount and therefore attacked Miraj Killa. Govind Hari, Gopalrao, Gangadharrao I was present during this siege. Raghunathrao could not successfully enter the fort even though he had an army of 20,000 and the Patwardhans had only 1,200. Ultimately Govind Hari decided to surrender to Raghunathrao and a treaty was signed to hand the fort over to the Peshwa and the Peshwa would pay off the loans, for this treaty Vithalrao Vinchurkar and Naro Shankar were guarantors. Govind Hari was allowed to leave with his family to Mangalveda.
A few years later Madhavrao came back to power and the Miraj Killa was returned along with 30 other villages to the Patwardhans.
Govind Hari in memory of his father asked Madhavrao to give a small land by way of Saranjam to construct schools for Vedas and Sanskrit education later this town was called Haripur and a Ganesh temple was built in memory of Hari Bhat Baba.
On the 17th of January 1771 Govind Hari’s son Gopalrao passed away, Neelkanth Hari died in the battle against Hyder Ali and on 21st November 1771 Govind Hari passed away. His wife Satyabhama Bai (Tai) went Sati.
Their Samadhis are at Miraj Ghat(on the banks of Krishna River).
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