Chandravati (Chandrabati) Ramayana - The Feminine Perspective

Chandrabati / Chandravati was a medieval poet, born around 1550 CE in Kishoreganj, Maimansingh now in Bangladesh. She is considered the first woman poet in her mother-tongue Bangla. Her legacy continues to be preserved, not just as academic interest, but woven into the fabric of women’s lives in rural Bengal even today through her verses.

Chandravati and Aatukuri Molla, first woman poet of Telugu literature and the author of the Telugu Ramayana, were among the writers who wrote the enduring Sanskrit epic Ramayana in regional languages to bring it closer to people.

Chandravati’s legacy

Chandravati wrote a woman-centric version of the Ramayana in the late 16th century, although left incomplete. Her Ramakatha is but one of the many that have been narrated and written in India and its neighbouring lands over centuries. The difference in her Ramayana is its unique female perspective. The work belongs to the genre of folk narrative, pala gaan or ballad which originated in the eastern districts of Bengal, presently Bangladesh. Folk narrative keeps to the basic story of the Ramayana but departs from it in the details. Chandravati has the distinction of expanding the scope of pala gaan from the narrow and domestic to universal concerns of tragedy that envelopes an entire society. Her narrative moves away from the masculine themes of war and Rama’s story to that of Sita’s, and the events that impinge her life. It is about how bereft the kingdom of Ayodhya, of which Sita is queen, feels on her accompanying Rama to exile and the implications to her world when doom befalls Lanka where she is imprisoned. 

Chandravati's family

Chandravati's house in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Chandravati’s father Dvija Vamsidasa was well known for his scholarship, and as the author of Padmaapurana. Chandravati herself was a scholar of Bangla and Sanskrit. In an autobiography in her Ramayana, she mentioned her mother Sulochana and that they lived on the banks of the Phuleswari. Encouraged by her father she took up writing, and assisted him in his work Manasamangala. She also composed two verse narratives Malua Sundari and Dasyu Kenaram, the only other works that are known today with her signature line and that directly reflect her times. These texts are still part of Bangla curriculum in schools. Chandravati attributed all her competence and the family’s escape from poverty to the Goddess Manasa. At the start of her work, she mentioned her grandparents, her parents, the goddess Manasa and the river which was the lifeline of the village. Her dedication could not be more different from the norm, she made no mention of classical poets or the pantheon of Hindu gods. 

Our knowledge of Chandravati’s life is from the only early account of it, written by Nayanchand Ghosh about a hundred years after her death.

Chandravati's personal life

Chandravati’s name is kept alive today at Kacharipara by the temple in which she worshipped and the Kabi Chandrabati Government Primary School near the temple. 

It is believed that Chandravati was deeply in love with Jayananda who jilted her to convert and marry a Muslim girl. This drove her to seclusion and worship at a Shiva temple her father built for her. 

The story of Chandravati and Jayananda goes like this. The couple met in a garden and fell in love. The families found the match very agreeable and a date for their marriage was fixed. However just days before the happy event, Jayananda met a beautiful Muslim girl on the river bank, converted to Islam and married her. This news came to Chandravati on the day of her marriage, shocking everybody not just because Jayananda jilted her but also because he abandoned his religion. Chandravati sought refuge in her temple, and encouraged by her father started to write the Ramayana to take her mind off her troubled life. Soon enough Jayananda realised his mistake and wrote to ask for her forgiveness. He knew his behaviour ensured there was no future for them but he wanted to see her one more time, and arrived at the temple. Chandravati was however in no mood to relent and resolutely kept the temple door shut. When all was silent outside she opened the door to go to the river, and discovered he had drowned. 

An account of Chandrabati’s life was written about 100 years after her death by Nayanchand, supported by local versions. He says loss and betrayal are the two recurrent themes in her work.

Chandravati’s singular view of the Ramayana

Indian literature abounds in heroic tales - the hero who performs great deeds is the focus front and centre, and the masculine is applauded. But what of women’s reactions and understandings of these episodes? What do they assimilate, take away from these narratives? Chandravati is among the earliest writers who looked into these questions, and expressed Sita’s view of the events of the Ramayana. 

Nabaneeta Dev Sen opines that Chandravati's Ramayana is not a devotional text but a secular one. The story is human drama and not divine mystery. It is a singular women's narrative from the female point of view. It is Sita's story from the beginning to the end.

Chandravati’s verse narrative is of less than 700 couplets. It includes episodes from various sources. She displays knowledge of classical texts and the other versions best known at the time in East Bengal - Valmiki’s in Sanskrit and Krttivasa’s in Bangla. She may have also been aware of them possibly by listening to narrations, which were very popular in Eastern India and adjoining areas, and has included them so that Sita’s world could be understood better. Yet, she does not set her work within any literary tradition. She narrates Sita's tale as she sees fit.

Chandravati’s choice of material sources was not whimsical, but purposeful. Tulsidas’s Ramayana has the tone of adoration for Rama, Valmiki’s was a hero’s tale. Chandravati’s forte is that she illustrates her particular understanding of the world around her. Her alterations reflect contemporary cultural, ethical and political attitudes, the important issues of 16th century eastern Bengal. 

Changing perceptions of the Ramayana over time

It is through this prism that one must read Chandravati’s work. The Ramayana is one of the most revered epics of India and many parts of Asia. In spite of this, offering a wildly differing viewpoint than one generally accepted for centuries is an act of courage and that of a thinking mind. Chandravati’s theme is the human cost of conflict and the justice (or the lack of it) meted out by the strong to the weak.

The Ramayana began to be viewed differently from the 15th century onwards. From Rama being glorified as the conquering hero and the best of men, later works spoke of him as Vishnu. They also began to look at the victims in the epic rather than only the victor. This is especially true of rural retellings by song, drama and verse which still resonate with the audience there, especially women. The retellings elaborate upon subjects close to home such as domestic relationships and Sita’s situation. Of late folklorists, political activists and scholars have begun to study these alternative versions.

The political scenario and its impact

The prevalent state of medieval Bengal added in no small measure to Chandravati’s melancholy. Literacy was low in areas away from urban centres. The local royalty, the Afghan Karrani dynasty, was busy thwarting the Mughal emperor Akbar and could not administer the land. This led to local chiefs asserting their power. Utter lawlessness prevailed. Women’s social status was low and official oppression on religious grounds was widespread. This upheaval resulted in slowly hardening strict rules for women which curbed their daily lives and essential freedoms. The gloomy social conditions were reflected in many medieval ballads of the time.

However it was not always so. The golden period for Bangla literature and the arts is considered to extend until 1525, under Sultan Allauddin Hussain Shah, a just and tolerant king. Society survived upheavals after the death of Shah due to the Vaishnava movement and the personality of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534). A flowering of arts and culture began, and an outpouring of literary and philosphical works, folk ballads, poetry and music ensued. The impact was such that inspite of being largely unschooled, women had cultural knowledge and could quote from the scriptures, having been amidst various forms of the oral tradition, and perhaps other art forms. As Mandakranta Bose says in A Woman’s Ramayana, “Theirs was by no means an unsophisticated social culture.”

The work - Chandravati’s Ramayana

Chandravati stamps her individuality at the very outset. Her work is not dedicated to the king as is the custom at the time but to her ‘sakhijan’, her female companions.

She begins the story with the birth of Sita and then brings in Mandodari, Ravana’s wife. In Chandravati’s Ramayana the two are daughter and mother. The behaviour of their respective husbands is a cause for agony to these women, and it is a joyless existence. Chandravati’s Rama is not the ideal ruler but the jealous husband whom Chandravati chastises for exiling Sita. She says this one action will be his ruin. Chandravati’s Ramayana may have been rejected by the educated class in her day but she has achieved long-lasting fame. Her Ramayana is on many village women’s lips even today when they sing for occasions under the nose of patriarchy. 

Her collaborators, centuries later

Any account of Chandravati and her work must also include the two men who collaborated to bring her work to the notice of the wider public centuries later - Dineshchandra Sen and Chandra Kumar De. Had it not been for De’s efforts and the encouragement he received from all quarters including Sen, Chandravati and her Ramayana would have remained unknown outside Bangla-speaking areas.

Chandravati and her Ramayana were famous even during her lifetime because her work was a part of the repertoire of village bards in rural Bengal. The change in the 20th century was that it came under scholarly review when Dineshchandra Sen began to collate the works of literature in rural Bengal. Sen collected 54 such ballads which offered a rich view of society. 

Cover Page of Eastern Bengal Ballads Mymensing
compiled by Dineschandra Sen

Dineshchandra Sen (1866-1939) was a noted writer, educationist and researcher of Bangla folklore. He was the founding faculty member of the Department of Bengali Language and Literature, University of Calcutta. He published Chandravati’s works and also attributed other works to her, although he did not offer evidence.

Sen began a series of lectures in Calcutta University on The Bengali Ramayanas which was later printed as a book. He devoted an entire chapter to Chandravati and her Ramayana. His focus was not the epic itself but on how widely alternative Ramayanas, especially the Jaina versions, differed from Valmiki’s Ramayana.

The discovery of Chandravati’s work 

A local magazine in Mymensing ‘Sourabha’ first published in April 1913 an article by Chandra Kumar De about a few ‘kabi’ songs of the area. Dineshchandra Sen began to regularly read De's articles and chanced upon an extract of an old ballad on the story of Chandravati and Jayachandra in one of them. From this extract Sen wrote about Chandravati in his ‘Bengali Ramayanas’. This account about the discovery of a medieval poetess and her distinguised poetry was read with great interest by several Europeans. Some of the episodes mentioned in Chandravati’s account were found not to be from Valmiki’s version but from local oral traditions as well as from Kashmiri, Javanese and Malay versions. Thus began questions on why there were deviations. 

When Sen tried to trace Chandra Kumar De to get more details on Chandravati, he was told that De was almost completely uneducated ‘but possessed fine literary talents’. He was so poor that sometimes he was unable to afford a meal for days. Sen wrote to De offering medical help in Kolkata, so De managed the trip after selling his wife’s jewellery. He was depressed and sickly-looking due to a chronic illness. He was offered free housing and free treatment by well-wishers. 

De was from Mymensing, the son of a poor landless farmer. After his parents died, De worked as rent-collector so he travelled extensively and was in direct contact with peasants from villages near his home. He heard Baramashi songs that were never written down but passed on orally through generations. These songs describe the joys and sorrows of women through the 12 months of the Bengali year. He learnt to read and write by his own efforts and set to work, transcribing these songs. He then contributed articles to Sourabha about the songs.

Sen encouraged him to concentrate on collecting Bangla songs, not Sanskrit ones, from his district. To do this, stray verses known to a few villagers had to be written down and strung together from all over the countryside, verses known only within families. This was an arduous task. De travelled through the marshes of the district, inspite of his precarious health, to meet people who were not always ready to share their family heritage of verses. Only De’s zeal for his mission saw him succeed. The result of this exercise was Chandravati’s incomplete Ramayana, among other works. 

De sent the verses to the University of Calcutta and he was offered employment with a stipend that allowed him to continue collecting songs. He travelled to tens of villages in the districts of Sylhet and Mymensing, collecting portions of works that he then had to collate in proper order to publish. In a letter of 1921 De wrote,”It is a great inconvenience that one singer is scarcely found in this district who knows a whole poem. It is to be recovered from various persons living in widely distant places, so a long journey is required to get hold of one poem.” Sometimes, the villager he wanted to meet avoided him. Sometimes the kuchcha roads were unfit for any conveyance so he was forced to walk 55-65 kilometers a day. Still he persevered. 

Sen translated the the verses into English and published 4 volumes of Eastern Bengal ballads in 1923. Some of the poems were published as Purbabanga-Geetika in 1926.

Recognition for Chandravati today

In recent years Chandravati’s importance in the history of Bengali literature is increasingly being recognised. It is surprising that fame reached Chandravati so slowly, especially since the poems have her name attached to them unlike several others in Sen’s book which are anonymous. Her Ramayana is available in both Bangla and English. A contemporary study of Chandravati’s Ramayana reveals that her continued popularity is largely due to her ability to talk about women’s lives through the medium of the epic.

Reference -

1. A Woman’s Ramayana - Chandravati’s Bengali Epic by Mandakranta Bose

2. Building a Digital Feminary - Nabaneeta Dev Sen

3. The Ballads of Bengal, Vol. 3 - Dineshchandra Sen. First published in 1923.

4. Eastern Bengal Ballads Mymensing Vol 1 Part 1- Dineshchandra Sen Rai Bahadur, 1923

5. Rewriting the Ramayana - Nabaneeta Dev Sen

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KB Sundarambal - When life gave her lemons, she made lemonade.

This is the story of a woman, a singer, who is a living memory for many of the older generations in South India. Sundarambal’s life and career coincided with several crosscurrents in twentieth century India - the arrival of an increased number of gramophone companies from Europe into the country in search of new voices, the introduction of cinema and its slowly increasing popularity and the escalation in political activity in India because of the freedom struggle. It was also the time when, increasingly, young women joined the nascent theatre and film industry which stigmatized them rather unfairly. Many traditional patrons of artistes, basically royalty and landed gentry, had lost the resources to continue to extend their age-old support to musicians, actors and dancers. In the changed scenario drama troupes and film studios became the new venues for artistes to showcase their talent, and earn a living.

Photograph taken October, 1932

(https://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:K.B.Sundarambal.jpeg)

The Early Years

Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal was from Erode, Tamil Nadu, born in October 1908. Her early life was one of extreme privation. At one point, unable to cope with dire poverty, Sundarambal’s mother was about to jump into the Kaveri with her three children, when the little girl convinced her to give life another chance. Sundarambal, even at that young age, promised her mother to earn for the family by her talent for singing. And she kept her word.

Sundarambal began to sing on trains to entertain passengers, and earned money. This was all the musical training Sundarambal had, but one apparently so complete that it stood her in good stead all her life. Her strong and resonant voice, her dignified demeanour and her confidence on stage became her hallmarks. Soon she came to the attention of people connected with Tamil theatre who were on the constant look-out for fresh talent.

Bahinabai - The Traditional Non-Conformist

Bahinabai’s life (1628-1700 CE) and the events in it are known to us today because of her unusual practice of noting them all down precisely in her verses, in seventy-eight abhangas with her exact date of birth. She also wrote her autobiography Atmamanivedana.

Abhanga is poetry with verses in praise of Vithoba, Panduranga or Vitthala, a form of Vishnu predominantly worshipped in Marathi-speaking areas. Abhangas of several poets are sung to this day in temples or enroute on varkari, pilgrimage by vari, pilgrims who walk great distances to temples.

The Bhakti Movement

Bahinabai is one of the important poets of the Bhakti period of India’s history. Her verses are particularly autobiographical. The Bhakti movement is a significant development in medieval India which saw the flowering of religious feeling and devotion to God over a period of nearly 700 years, from the 9th to the 16th centuries CE. Several religious teachers took the message of Sanatana Dharma to the people through personal interaction, verse and song. The Bhakti Movement’s impact on literature and the arts was huge. This peoples’ movement occured spontaneously all over India with no ruler or leader in charge. It touched various facets of life - religion, the arts, women’s status. The result was increased geographical and cultural awareness between different parts of India, especially of far-flung areas, since devotees travelled across the country on pilgrimage and artists for work opportunities. 

The Marathi scribe Mahipati (1715-1790 CE) wrote biographies of Varkari saints. His work is still considered the most authoritative. He wrote hagiographies of Vaishnava poets who lived between the 13th and 17th centuries CE, and mentions Bahinabai in his Bhakta-Vijaya.  

Avantisundari - Princess of Intellect

Avantisundari

Princess of intellect - rhetorician and poet

Avantisundari - Her life and her times

Avantisundari was an exceptionally accomplished woman who lived in the 9th and 10th century CE in the kingdom of the Gurjara-Pratihara, a dynasty which ruled over an extensive area in North India extending upto the Narmada in Central India. Her husband Rajasekhara, court poet and grammarian, writes of her as ‘a jewel of a Chahamana or Chauhan family’ which means she was a princess, in the opinion of Sanskrit scholar and musicologist V Raghavan. The couple entered into anuloma, an intercaste marriage. The practice was accepted by society at the time. 

Rajasekhara the mentor

Rajasekhara was an unusual individual in that he not only encouraged the talented Avantisundari in her literary pursuits but also wrote of other talented poetesses in his own verses. Even today when this open-hearted attitude towards female accomplishments is not all-pervasive, what Rajasekhara did more than ten centuries back was unusual. The references he makes have in turn come down to us today. For example, verses attributed to Rajasekhara in Jalhana’s Suktimuktavali (1258 CE) mention the poetesses Shilabhattarika, Vikatanitamba, Vijayanka among others. Rajasekhara firmly says that poetic ability is not based on gender but is a part of the inner soul. He writes "Women also can become poets like men. Culture is really an element of the soul. It does not make a distinction between male and female. We have heard of and even seen princesses, daughters of great officers of the state, courtesans and the wives of cultured people who had all the refinements of learning and were poets too."

Avantisundari and her work

Such were Avantisundari’s abilities that Rajasekhara freely acknowledged her poetic talent and quoted her in his work Karpura Manjari written in Prakrit. He acknowledges that he produced and staged this work at her encouragement and request.

Avantisundari had opinions on three aspects of literary criticism that Rajasekhara mentions in his Kavyamimamsa. These were -
what is meant by maturity of expression
what exactly is the poetic idea
the broader aspect of poetic borrowing, which at a base level becomes plagarism.

These are issues that creative artists are grappling with even today, more than ten centuries later!

Avantisundari wrote in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Apart from that, Avantisundari’s work as a rhetorician led to her stanzas being quoted by Hemachandra in the 11th century CE in his Deshi Namamala to illustrate the meanings of Prakrit expressions. 

Nothing much else is known about this interesting literary luminary who chose to specialise in an esoteric aspect of rhetoric and poetry. Today we only know of Avantisundari thanks to references to her works in others’ anthologies. Unfortunately none of her works has been discovered so far.

Relevance of the Avantisundari-Rajasekhara partnership today

Reading about Avantisundari and Rajasekhara’s mindsets at the period from the end of the 9th century CE to the beginning of the 10th century CE brings one thought to mind. Trends and thought processes in society seem to go around in circles. What goes around comes around. It’s fascinating how the issues we face today on gender parity, encouragement to female education and intercaste marriages are nothing new at all. We really don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we only need to take a look at how Avantisundari and Rajasekhara twelve centuries back negotiated their way with finesse and an openmindedness we would do well to emulate. 

Do you agree with me? Do write in. 

Reference:

Prekshanakatrayi - V Raghavan

Great Women of India - Editors: Swami Madhavananda and Ramesh Chandra Majumdar

Abbakka Chowta - She fought the Portuguese

Abbakka Chowta

She Fought the Portuguese

Europeans in India

In the 1500s, after reports of the successful voyage to India of Portugal's Vasco da Gama reached home, European powers first came to India to trade for spices. Over the next few centuries they were sometimes granted trading rights by some local rulers, fought with yet some others in order to keep and expand their trading rights, and then finally asserted their political power. This progression from traders to rulers saw the Portuguese having to confront many Indian rulers who flatly refused to accept foreign suzerainty and fought to keep their autonomy.

Apart from the Portuguese, Indian rulers had to confront other Europeans also, such as the British, when they started to increase their influence from merely trading to interfering in the political arena. One such ruler who put up strong opposition was Velu Nachiyar of Sivaganga nearly a century after Abbakka Chowta.

Who was Abbakka?

Abbakka Chowta (1525 - 1580s) was one of the earliest opponents to European colonizers in India. She stood up to the Portuguese who constantly tried to take advantage of Indian rulers who could not present a united front. The only exception was the Samoothiri (Zamorin) of Calicut who forged a military alliance with her to fight the Portuguese.

Abbakka ruled from Ullal near Mangalore and was of the matrilinear Bunt community that lived in coastal Karnataka and Kerala. The Chowta were an ancient clan. One of the early Chowta rulers was a feudatory of Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara empire. The Chowta dynasty ruled from 1160 to 1833 CE, had 25 rulers of whom 11 were women. They were a Jain dynasty and ruled from Moodabidri. Ullal was a subsidiary capital. 

Ullal was situated at the mouth of the river Netravathi. This enabled ships to sail from the port of Ullal up the river into the interiors of the mainland, a huge advantage that the Portuguese wanted to capitalise by holding the port. They first tried to tax Abbakka in exchange for allowing shipping. Then they demanded an annual tribute from her. Other kingdoms had capitulated to Portuguese demands and they thought Abbakka would fall in line. But Abbakka had no intention of giving in to extortion.

The Portuguese in India

When the Portuguese first arrived in India the Vijayanagara empire was at its apex. The Portuguese built forts all along the west coast, ostensibly to safeguard their trading interests. They were in contention with local rulers who ruled under the protection of the Vijayanagara empire. The Portuguese were also trading Arabian steeds with the empire through Vijayanagara's ports in Goa and Mangalore, from where they shipped spices and the famed Indian textiles onward to Europe. The spice trade was so lucrative that it was vitally important for the Portuguese to control these ports. 

In a few decades, the Portuguese became extremely powerful with their new naval technology. They were the dominant force all along much of the trade route in the Indian Ocean and levied a charge on all trade using the route. This situation lasted for nearly a century until the British and Dutch started to assert themselves. 

After capturing Goa, and making it their headquarters the Portuguese turned their attention to other ports along the coast. They destroyed the Kapaleeswarar temple at Chennai. In Calicut, they defeated the powerful Zamorin. Daman and Mumbai were captured.

The Portuguese monopoly led to constant fighting with smaller Indian kingdoms that resented their overlordship. One such a kingdom was that of Ullal.

Abbakka’s mindset and fighting spirit

Abbakka and her sister Padumaladevi were brought up to be well-versed in the martial arts and in statecraft. Legend has it that Abbakka was particularly good at sword fighting and archery. When her sister who was the ruler of the Chowta dominions died without children, Abbakka succeeded her to the throne.

Drunk on their military and commercial successes thus far, the Portuguese gave no serious thought to the young queen of Ullal which is about 100 kms from Mangalore. They casually sent a small contingent in boats to capture and bring her to Goa. No boats returned.

Next, a huge fleet under Admiral Dom Alvaro da Silviera was despatched. A thoroughly defeated and much injured admiral returned, minus queen. 

Not to be outdone, the Portuguese sent yet another fleet, but again only a few troops straggled back.

In the meantime, the Portuguese captured Mangalore fort, which made it easier to attack Ullal. Soon another huge contingent under an experienced general Joao Peixoto sailed forth to nab the indomitable queen. 

Veera Rani Abbakka Devi
Special Cover issued 15.1 2003 at MANGALAPEX-2003

Winning tactics of the battle-hardened queen

When they reached the fort of Ullal, they found it deserted. Just as the Portuguese were about to declare victory, Abbakka and her loyal soldiers attacked the fort and decimated the opposition, killing the general. Not resting on her laurels, the very same day Abbakka was on the road to Mangalore and laid siege to the Mangalore fort. Her forces successfully captured the fort, killed Admiral Mascarenhas, had the Portuguese vacate the fort, and rode onwards 100 kms to Kundapura, and captured the Portuguese settlement there as well. 

Unexpected betrayal 

Going by the accounts of Abbakka’s exploits, it appears she would have continued to fight the good fight and rout the Portuguese at every turn. However, the stumbling block she faced, and perhaps didn’t expect, was her estranged husband Banga Lakshmappa Arasa who betrayed her to the Portuguese. This led to her capture and imprisonment. She died fighting in jail.  

Remembered in song and verse

There are three queens in the Chowta dynasty named Abbakka. The queen profiled here is Abbakka II who ruled from 1544 to 1582 and appears in Portuguese and local records. She is known for having fought the Portuguese several times and for her great naval victory against them. 

Abbakka's exploits and bravery made her famous in far-flung countries such as Persia (now called Iran) which was also fighting the Portuguese at the time. The Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle had heard so much of Abbakka from the Shah of Persia that he made sure to stop at Ullal to meet her on his travels. He was struck by her confidence yet simple lifestyle, focussing on the welfare of her subjects.

One of India's Inshore Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coastguard built at Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam is named Rani Abbakka.

Folklore and Yakshagana enactments have kept the legend and memory of Abbakka alive for nearly six centuries. They commemorate a never-say-die ruler who fought until her last breath.

Reference

1. http://flagsaudrapeaubandeirasandstamps.blogspot.com

2. Selections from The Travels of Sig. Pietro della Valle. Translated by G Havers.

3. Chowtas of Puttige Moodabidri - Dakshina Kannada Jilleya Prachina Itihasa by M Ganapathy Rao. Translated by Mahi Mulki. Tulupedia.com

Naikadevi

The Queen from Karnataka who Ruled Gujarat and Defeated Mohammad Ghori

The saga of Naikadevi’s regency (1175-1178 CE) during the rule of the Chalukya in Gujarat is one about her cool thinking, unfazed bravery and of not being taken in by the reputation of the enemy. The adversaries - Naikadevi and Mohammad Ghori of Ghor in Afghanistan - were equally determined to achieve their goals. Naikadevi was defending her kingdom, Ghori was bent on conquering it and had come all the way to Gujarat in the hopes of adding to his realm. However, the result of their encounter was a drubbing Ghori could not stomach.

Mohammad Ghori
Ghori made several incursions into India to expand territory.  He was not content with looting the fabled riches of India but also tried to conquer. He was defeated multiple times over the years by defending rulers but never let that hold back his ambitions. The factor in Ghori’s favour was the lack of unity amongst the rulers of various kingdoms in India who would not present a common front against him.

Rudramadevi - A Queen True to Her Calling

Rudramadevi

A Queen True To Her Calling

Rudramadevi (reign 1260 - 1290 CE) of the powerful Kakatiya dynasty ruled from her capital Orugallu, present day Warangal in Telangana.  The area was naturally rich in diamonds and was throughout the target of several attacks and invasions by vying rival kings seeking to expand their territories and increase their wealth.

Early Life

Rudramadevi was brought up like a boy by her father Ganapathideva who had two daughters to succeed him. Ganapathideva was a very prominent monarch of his line. At the end of a largely successful reign, he apprehended an attack by Jatavarman Sundara Pandian I from near Madurai. The Kakatiya empire needed a strong front to defeat this threat. Rudramadevi was trained in the art of war under her guru Sivadevayya. He coached her thoroughly in planning her campaigns, tactical moves on the battlefield and managing the enemies' moves. She was given a thorough grounding in politics and administration. She was taught the fine arts - music, dance and literature to prepare her to be a good administrator. She toured the kingdom, meeting officials and people to gain first hand knowledge. 

Rudramadevi could also draw upon the formidable experience of her father who had ruled for nearly 60 years. He eased her into the battlefield and the court so she could prove her mettle and gain confidence. Above all she learnt to keep the welfare of her subjects as her primary goal.

On the advise of his councillors, Ganapathideva performed the putrika ceremony which invested Rudramadevi with the authority of a male heir. She assumed the name of Rudraraja from the age of fourteen and wore male attire as co-ruler. Shortly thereafter, life threw up challenges that the young queen had to face head-on. Even as she fended off Sundara Pandian the Kakatiya kingdom weakened, her father took ill, and soon died.

A Fight to Retain the Kingdom

Rudramadevi then took independent charge. Soon after, she faced rebellion from family members and nobles clearly disgruntled at a female ruler on the throne. When Rudramadevi and her daughter were visiting a temple at Mogalicharla, the fort of Warangal was forcibly occupied by the rebels. She crushed the uprising with the help of citizens, courtiers and troops that remained loyal to her. Rudramadevi had her work cut out keeping the kingdom intact against invaders such as the Yadavas of Devagiri who laid siege to her capital for fifteen days. She defeated the Yadavas and captured several of their troops who were later released after a ransom was paid. The Odia and the Chola who were looking for a chance to take over were also defeated. Rudramadevi not only proved that she was a good warrior but was also able to instil awe in the minds of her enemies for her personal bravery and her tactical intelligence. She was a feared adversary.