Hello friends, how are you all, I hope everyone is having fun and being healthy. Today in our Gaurav Sangrah blog we are going to talk about another women freedom fighter of Indian History, Rani Durgavati:
- who ruled as Rajmata in Garhmandal.
- against which Akbar's army also had to give up three times.
- who chose to die by his own hands rather than die by the hands of the Mughals.
So let us know something about the Rani Durgavati.
Rani Durgavati |
Who was Rani Durgavati ?
Rani Durgavati was born on 5 October 1524 in the palace of Rajput king Kirtivarman of Chandel (Banda, UP, India). As she was born on the day of Durgastami, she was named Durgavati. From her childhood, she was beautiful in appearance as if a nymph had descended to earth from heaven. Being the only child of Kirtivarman, Durgavati was brought up like a princess.
King Kirtivarman taught all the business of the kingdom to the princess. He arranged teachers to learn horse riding, swordsmanship, archery, etc. Durgavati used to stay with her father and helped him in the affairs of the palace. She was very agile and brave and could easily hunt wild animals. Back then, Durgavati had hunted tigers and leopards a lot.
How did Rani Durgavati got married?
When Durgavati got married, father Kirtivarman was looking for a suitable groom for Durgavati. She saw many princes but did not like any of them. Durgavati had heard the feats of Sangram Shah's son Dalpat Shah so Dalpat settled in Durgavati's heart. Thus Durgavati told her father Kirtivarman to marry Dalpat Shah.
But since Dalpat Shah's caste was different, Kirtivarman refused to marry Durgavati and Dalpat Shah. When Sangram Shah came to know about this, he invaded Chandel and Kirtivarman was defeated in that invasion. Kirtivarman then married Durgavati to Dalpat Shah, son of King Sangram Shah of Garhmandal.
When did Queen Durgavati rule Garhmandal?
The married life of Durgavati and Dalpat Shah was going on happily. Now Dalpat Shah was given the throne of Garhmandal and Durgavati became the queen. Rani Durgavati had been married for four years and had a three-year-old son. Her son was named Veernarayan Singh.
One day in the world of smiling Queen Durgavati, Dalpat Shah suddenly died due to some reason. Suddenly there was an atmosphere of mourning in the palace. Queen Durgavati declared her three-year-old son Veernarayan Singh as the king of Garhmandal because the thrown could no longer be kept vacant and she herself was ruling Garhmandal as the queen mother.
For what purpose did Rani Durgavati shifted the capital of the town ?
Queen Durgavati made many improvements in the town after taking over the rule of Garhmandal. Earlier, she shifted the capital from Singurgarh to Chauragarh for the protection of Godwana. This was done because Chauragarh was on the hills and the place seemed safe due to which the enemy cannot attack the capital immediately.
Digging well |
Queen Durgavati dug many wells in the town for the convenience of the townspeople. Many dharamshalas, temples, monasteries were also built in the town. Chori Lake was built by Queen Durgavati after her trusted maid Chori. Similarly Aadhar Lake was also constructed after the name of her trusted General Aadhar Singh.
What was the purpose of Mughal invasion of Rani Durgavati's kingdom?
The rulers around Garhmandal had already surrendered to the Mughals. But Queen Durgavati saved Garhmandal from the Mughals. Seeing Garhmandal as beautiful and rich, the surrounding Mughal rulers were trying to take possession of Garhmandal.
They also tried invading Garhmandal. But neighboring Mughal rulers were losing against Queen Durgavati. Baz Bahadur also invaded Garhmandal several times. But he was defeated by the cunning queen Durgavati.
How many times Rani Durgavati defeated her enemy ?
The news of Queen Durgavati's bravery reached the ears of many rulers. Similarly, Asaf Khan also comes to know that Garhmandal is a very rich town and its queen is very brave. Asaf Khan informed about Garhmandal through his trusted man. Asaf Khan then came to know that Durgavati, the Queen of Garhmandal, was widow and was ruling as Queen Mother.
Asaf Khan considered women to be weak. Also believed that how much a widow queen will fight. He was lacking in intention and was also fond of women. So Asaf Khan was thinking of taking Garhmandal under his control. Asaf Khan took permission from Akbar to invade Garhmandal. He wrote a letter to Rani Durgavati saying that if she don't hand over the Sarman elephant and the commander to him, he will attack Garhmandal.
Rani Durgavati rejected Asaf Khan's words and started preparing for battle. Asaf Khan, considering Queen Durgavati to be weak, invaded Garhmandal. But Queen Durgavati chased Asaf Khan away from the battlefield. In this way Rani Durgavati defeated Asaf Khan thrice in battle.
How did Rani Durgavati faced her enemie's huge army ?
Seeing Garhmandal prosperous, Asaf Khan's mind was fixed on conquering Garhmandal. So he re-invaded Garhmandal. At that time Asaf Khan had a large army of Akbar and Queen Durgavati had few soldiers. General Aadhar Singh also told the queen to stay away from the city.
Attacking Garhmandal |
But she said that it is better to die like a brave than to perish like a coward. After this Queen Durgavati entered the battlefield dressed in war dress. At that time Queen Durgavati's son Veeranarayan Singh was also fighting. Rani Durgavati was finding it difficult to face Asaf Khan because this time he had a large army of soldiers.
Even so, Queen Durgavati was fighting bravely and her son was also facing the enemies like a storm. But Veeranarayan Singh was badly injured while fighting against the enemy. So Queen Durgavati sent her son away from the battlefield to a safe place and faced the enemies herself. Facing the enemy, suddenly arrows rained on Rani Durgavati and injured her.
One of the arrows hit Rani Durgavati in the eye but Rani Durgavati pulled the arrow out with her hand. The arrow went out of the eye but the tip of the arrow remained in the eye. Rani Durgavati was unable to fight due to eye contact. So she ordered his trusted general Adhar Singh to cut off the head of Queen Durgavati. But Aadhar Singh did not want to kill her queen. Queen Durgavati herself took out her own sword and stabbed herself by it in the stomach and died.
Conclusion:
In this article we have seen how bravely Rani Duergavati faced the Mughals. She chose to die by his own hand instead of dying at the hands of Mughal Asaf Khan. She died on 24 June 1564 in India. She built the famous Khajuraho and Kalinjar forts during his reign. Even today, the Rani Durgavati's Museum can be found in Jabalpur. A university named after Rani Durgavati is also known in Jabalpur. The government has also issued a postage stamp in his name. There are many stories of heroic tales of Queen Durgavati.
So readers, how did you like the history of Rani Durgavati? What did you find interesting in this article? Which paragraph is your favorite in this one? If you like to say something feel free to tell in comment section. Thank you very much for reading this article till the end.
We will come back very soon in another article with another such women freedom fighter of Indian History in our Gaurav Sangrah blog till then take care.