Bahinabai was born in a Mahajan family at Asode in Khandesh region of the present-day Jalgaon district on the 24 August 1880, on the day of Naga Panchami.
Following her husband's death in 1910, she led a very difficult life because of the economic, social, cultural, and emotional circumstances arising out of widowhood.
Bahinabai composed her songs verbally in ovi (ओवी) metre in a mixture of two dialects: Khandeshi and Levaganboli.
[4][5] According to one account, Sopandev read the story of Savitri and Satyavan to his mother from his textbook, and by the next morning, she had composed a song of the tale.
[6] After his mother's death on 3 December 1951, Sopandev found the notebook and shared one of her poems with Prahlād Keshav (Acharya) Atre's attention.