Bapu Gokhale was army chief (Senapati) of the Peshwa in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

[2][3] Gokhale was appointed commander-in -chief by Peshwa Baji Rao II with the preparations of the Third Anglo-Maratha War against the East India Company in 1818.

[1] He died on February 19, 1818, during the battle of Ashti (now in Mohol taluka, Solapur, Maharashtra) while defending the Peshwa from the company forces.

He died with a sword in his hand just as he had wished to have preferred to.

[7] He was also a great-uncle of Dwarka Gokhale, wife of Chandrashekhar Agashe.