Rani Durgavati (5 October 1524 – 24 June 1564) was the queen regent of

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

in 1550–1564 AD. She married King Dalpat Shah, the son of King

Sangram Shah Raja Sangram Shah Madavi was a king of the Garha Kingdom of Gondwana, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Raja Sangram Shah, who belonged to the Gond Dynasty in central India, was the 48th and most well known ruler of the dynasty, and during ...

. She served as regent of Gondwana during the minority of her son, Vir Narayan, from 1550 until 1564. She is chiefly remembered for defending Gondwana against the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

Life

Durgavati was born on 5 October 1524 at the fortress of Kalinjar. She was born in the family of the Chandela

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

king Shalbaham, who ruled the Mahoba kingdom. In 1542, she wed Dalpat Shah, the eldest son of the king

of the Garha Kingdom. The Chandelas of Mahoba and kachhwah rajput of Garha-Mandla dynasties became allies through this marriage.

Queen regent

King Dalpat Shah died in 1550 CE when his successor Crown Prince Vir Narayan was merely 5 years old. His wife, Queen Durgavati rose to take the reins of the

kingdom as regent during the new king's minority. Diwan Adhar Kayastha and Minister Man Thakur helped the Queen in looking after the administration successfully and effectively. Queen Durgavati promoted peace, trade, and good will throughout her realm. Rani Durgavati moved her capital from

Singorgarh fort Singorgarh Fort, is a hill-fort located in Damoh district in the Madhya Pradesh state of Central India. It is about 45 km from Jabalpur city, on the way to Damoh town. It is presently under the Archeological Survey of India. In its peak years, ...

to Chauragarh fort. It was a fort of strategic importance situated on the Satpura hill range. After the death of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

, Shuja Khan captured

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

and was succeeded by his son

Baz Bahadur Bayazid Baz Bahadur Khan was the last Sultan of the Malwa Sultanate, who reigned from 1555 to 1562. He succeeded his father, Shuja'at Khan. He is known for his romantic liaison with Roopmati. Baz Bahadur as sultan did not bother to look aft ...

in 1556. After ascending to the throne, Baz invaded Rani Durgavati's Gondwana but the invasion was repulsed with heavy losses for the former earning the latter a lot of prestige.

Mughal Invasion of Gondwana

In 1562,

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

vanquished the

ruler

and conquered

, made it a Mughal dominion. Consequently, the state boundary of the Rani touched the

. Rani's contemporary was a Mughal General, Khwaja Abdul Majid Asaf Khan who defeated King Ramchandra Singh, the Monarch of Rewa. He desired the Queen Durgavati and the wealth of Gondwana. He led the Mughal invasion of the Rani's realm after gaining permission from Mughal emperor

. When the Rani heard about the invasions by Mughal General Asaf Khan she decided to defend her kingdom with all her might although her Diwan, Beohar Adhar Simha (Adhar Kayastha) warned about the strength of the invading Mughal forces. The Rani maintained that it was better to die respectfully than to live a disgraceful life. To fight a defensive battle, she went to Narrai, situated between a hilly range on one side and two rivers

Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

and

Narmada The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

on the other side. It was an unequal battle with trained soldiers and modern weapons in multitude on the invading Mughal side and a few untrained soldiers with older weapons on the side of Rani Durgavati. Her Faujdar, Arjun Das was killed in the battle. The Rani then decided to lead the defense herself. As the enemy entered the valley, the soldiers of the Rani attacked them. Both sides lost some men but the Rani lost more. The Rani's domains were very federal, much more decentralised than an average non-tribal kingdom. There were fortress districts, which were administrative units and were controlled either directly by the monarch or through subordinate feudal lords (jagirdars) and junior rajas. Around half of the villages were in the hands of feudal lords. These local rajas recruited and contributed much of the soldiers, and also contributed arms to their sovereign during the times of war. The recruitment standards, training and equipment of these soldiers were not uniform, and were often substandard. Also, the feudal lords held much sway over sections of the army during a war. This decentralized structure created disadvantages during the war against the invading Mughals. At this stage, the Rani reviewed her strategy with her counselors. She wanted to continue with guerilla attacks on the invading Mughal forces in the night, but her chiefs discouraged her and insisted that she took on the invading forces in open combat in nightlight. But by the next morning, the Mughal general Asaf Khan summoned the big guns. The Rani rode on her elephant Sarman and came for the battle. Her son, the Crown Prince Vir Narayan also took part in this battle. He forced the invading Mughal army to move back three times but at last, he got wounded and had to retire to a safe place. In the course of the battle,the Rani also got injured badly near her ear with an arrow. Another arrow pierced her neck and she lost consciousness. On regaining consciousness she perceived that defeat was imminent. Her

mahout A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retainin ...

advised her to leave the battlefield but she refused and took out her dagger and killed herself on 24 June 1564. Her martyrdom day (24 June 1564) is commemorated as "Balidan Diwas".

Legacy

The Madan Mahal Fort in Jabalpur is famous for its association with the Queen Durgavati and her son, the Crown Prince Vir Narayan. In 1983, the government of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

renamed the university of

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

as Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya in her memory. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

issued a postal stamp commemorating her death, on 24 June 1988. The train between Jabalpur Junction and Jammutawi was named Durgavati Express (11449/11450) in her honor. The Indian Coast Guard on 14 July 2018 commissioned ''ICGS Rani Durgavati'', the third Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) of its kind.

References

External links