RANI KARNAVATI OF GARHWAL
“NAK KATI RANI”
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
There are many blunders in the teaching and writing of
Indian history by the Historians of Nehruvian Era. The losers are Indian school students. They couldn’t
know about our courageous legacy. Under many of the Muslim Education Ministers
during Dynastic Rule, the Historians were obsessed
with the exploits of the Muslim and Mughal invaders rather than the glorious deeds
of our brave defenders. More pages are written on ALEXANDER, than ‘KING PORUS’.
Greek historians wrote a fiction, and we parroted it in our history books!!
Unfortunately, no Indian chronicled the battle of Hydaspes.
The problem gets compounded in India by the fact that our
past historians tend to ignore the history of the regions far away from Delhi
or the big adjoining cities. What is
even a bigger tragedy is the fact that the role of brave women in Indian
history hardly ( if they do) find
passing mention in the textbooks written for schools.
However—we get some information of Mughal era written by some foreigners.
India has had outstanding women who self-painted themselves
in the historical canvas like Colossuses.
True, we have read of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and Razia Sultana. Their status
has rightfully been elevated to that of Great Queen/Sultana – movies and songs
have been made and sung about them.
"Pray, how
many of us have heard of our brave women warriors? Maybe a few of us only have heard of Rani Durgavati of Gondwana,
Rani Karnavati of Chittor, or Rani Tarabaithe, the indomitable queen of the
Marathas. Hardly anyone of us have heard of Rani Abbakka Chowta of Tuluva, Rani
Chennamma of Kittur, Rani Mangammal of Madurai, Rani Rudrama Devi of the
Kakkatiya Dynasty, Rani Velu Nachiyar from Sivagangai, Bibi Sahib Kaur of Patiala,
Chand Bibi of Bijapur….the list is exhaustive."
Today, I will talk about Rani Karnavati of Garhwal.
In fact, I stayed a few years in Dehra doon, and off course
frequented many times most of the
terrains of Uttarakhand. Visited Rishikesh almost two to three times every year,
from1982-2018, whenever there was a favourable week-end. And listened to
the exploits of this brave queen there,
many times.
The Garhwal Kingdom was founded in 823 by Kanak Pal. By
1358, the ruler Ajay Pal had expanded its territories by capturing the 52
“Garhs”, (forts, some historians trace the name of “Garh”wal related to the capture of these forts) with
the capital at Devalgarh not far from Srinagar of Uttarakhand, where it was
later shifted to, by the dynamic ruler Mahipat Singh who ascended the throne in
1621.
Mahipat Singh lived by the sword, and died by the sword in
the year 1631 on the battlefield, fighting with a chieftain of Kumaon, leaving
the reins of the Kingdom to his wife Rani Karnavati (not to be mistaken with
Rani Karnavati of Chittor).
Rani Karnavati was a brave woman warrior who not only
defended her kingdom from the neighbouring chieftains of Kumaon, Sirmour and
Tibet – but also against the mighty Emperor Shah Jahan and, later, his
successors. Garhwal was eyed because it had mines of silver, copper and gold.
According to an English traveller, William Finch, the king, and Queen of
Garhwal dined on solid gold plates!!
The richness of Garhwal brought it into conflict with Shah
Jahan, the Mughal Emperor, in 1640.
Shah Jahan sent a huge contingent of troops numbering 30,000
under General Najabat Khan. Very soon, they were knocking on the frontiers of
the Garhwal Kingdom near the place, what is today’s Rishikesh.
According to Manucci, an Italian traveller who has written
about the war, the Rani allowed the forces of Najabat Khan to advance and
penetrate into the mountains up to a distance, after which she closed the roads
from behind-- the way they came!! They could not go back and they did not know
the mountainous terrain well enough to advance forward quickly. The spider had
drawn the fly into its web.
Now Maharani Karnavati of the Gharwal Kingdom attacked them
heavily from all sides of the hilly pass. Around twenty thousand Mughals were
killed in the attack.
Finding his forces not only depleted, but also in a hopeless position – the General wanted to
surrender and requested for peace. Rani
Karnavati could have killed all of them, but her demand was different. She told
Najabat Khan that his forces would be spared if they cut their noses and left
them behind!! The soldiers had no other choice! They complied!!
According to Manucci, "The general, Najabat Khan, who
could not endure coming back with his nose cut off, took poison and put an end
to his life."
The remaining mighty Mughal army returned with the nose of
every soldier cut off. Shah Jahan couldn't take the embarrassment and ordered
more attacks on the capital of the Garhwal Kingdom — Srinagar (Present-day,
Srinagar is a city and municipal corporation in Pauri Garhwal district in the
Indian state of Uttarakhand). However, each attack was unsuccessful because of
the difficult terrain of the region. A peace treaty had to be signed by the Mughals
with Rani Karnavati.
Why did she ask them to cut their noses? This practice has
been a means of punishment with humiliation since times immemorial. In the
Ramayana, Laxman cut off the nose (called ‘NAK’ in India) of Shurpanakha and “NAAK KATANAA” is still
used colloquially to express humiliation!
Queen Karnavati became famous in the folklore as “Nak Kati
Rani”! The above incident is not only written
by Mannnuci (I READ) but chroniclers
like Bernier, Tavernier and others also mentioned this, as claimed .
Rani Karnavati of Garhwal was not just a warrior queen. She
was a visionary who is credited with building monuments at Navada in Dehradun
district, constructing the Rajpur Canal (the earliest of all Dehradun Canals)
and of founding Karanpur, which was then a village in Dehradun.
There is no doubt that Rani Karnavati was one of bravest Queen
in Indian history. Sadly, hardly anyone knows about her.
NOTE:-- I have compiled information from researched papers
on the subject other than books referred
below.
Ref:-
1.0 Niccolao
Manucci, Storia Do Mogor, Vol. 1 Or Mogul India; 1653-1708......[ENG]
2.0 The
Women Who Ruled India—Archana Garodia Gupta
3.0 Image:--
Google.
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