What a 12 year old Bheel tribal girl called Kalibai of a small village did was unprecedented in the history. Dungarpur was a small state in Rajasthan. Very poor and backward it was. Its ruler Maharawal Laxman Singh was a very orthodox and narrow-minded person. He was dead set against education for commoners. In 1930s […]
In defence of husbands and sons several women of our land have fought battles. But princess Sahib Kunwari of Patiala state devoted her entire life in protecting her incompetent brother. Patiala was a major state of Punjab till the end of the 18th century.Sahib Singh was the Raja of Patiala but he was meritless person.
After the death of husband several woman have gone to the battle to fight off the enemy but Begam is the rarest example who battled against British because her husband was a coward, idler, drunkard and womaniser. She administered the state, managed it and to keep the enemy away generalled her forces against a mighty
Today USA is the world’s richest and the sole super power. Europeans pride over their material progress. Arabs dictate the world through their oil power and the astronomical amounts of money it earns them. India and china are leading developing nations. But only five hundred years ago the situation was just the opposite. No one
Durga Wati came out to battle, in hands swords two,Fury made her face copper brown,ambers were eyes two,Reins she held between teeth, in hands swords two.The area around Jhansi is known as Bundelkhand and the area around Jabalpur, the capital of Bidis (small cheap cigars) is called Gondwana. Durga Wati was the queen of Raja
The place of honour that Rani of Jhansi and Ahilyabai of Indore command in North India the same does Rani Chennama of Kittoor, Karnataka in South India. As a 16 year old girl she had hunted down a man eater lion with only a bow and arrows. Raja Mallasarja of Kittoor had also come to
It is the story of early Holkars. The later day Bheemabai, was a born Holkar princess. Ahilyabai was a girl from the ordinary family married to Holkar family royalty. She was not only married in Holkar family but one of the founding members of the Holkar ruling dynasty. Upto the period of Aurangzeb, Malva was
In the Uprising of 1857 First Independence Struggle of India, this princess of Holkar dynasty played as brave role as Rani of Jhansi had done. There were remarkable similarities between the two. In 1857 both of them were 22 years old and both had become widows. Both were Marathas and born battlers. Rani Laxmibai had
Rani arrived Kalpi, racing her horse miles hundred,too tired was the horse to stay up, it collapsed dead.Rani alone, enemies galore, the swords flashed,Walker fled with wounds, alas.! Rani was surrounded.To us Bundel story tellers revealed the story,fought like man, but it was Rani of Jhansi. The above lines are from a popular poem written
Shivaji went in action again. He made peace with Mogul Empire and plundered Adil Empire of Bijapur.Swarajya rose up again at the cost of Bijapur Empire. Shivaji was duly crowned as the Emperor of Hindu Empire, Swarajya. He added the title of Chhatrapati to his name to become ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji.’ The celebrations continued for two
On Aurangzeb’s invitation Shivaji decided to attend the court of the Mogul empire at least for one time. He wanted to assess the northern empire.Shivaji and his son, Shambhaji left Rajgarh for Agra accompanied by 350 soldiers. A royal welcome to him at Agra was rightfully expected. But his arrival was largely ignored.It angered the
Shivaji’s campaigns worried Aurangzeb. He knew that Shivaji had to be tamed.For this task, now Aurangzeb sought the services of Mogul empire’s most loyal soldier, Raja Jai Singh. As all Muslim commanders had failed he wanted to try Hindu commander. Raja was a shrewd military brain.Aurangzeb duly honoured Raja Jai Singh and formally gave him
When confusion cleared Moguls realised that Shivaji had struck and escaped. They regrouped to chase the marauders. Hundreds of soldiers raced out on their horses. They saw a trail of hundreds of torches moving southwards on the hilly track. Taking it for Shivaji’s escaping group they went in chase. Hours of galloping their horses brought
On the other side, Shaista Khan was living in Shivaji’s own ancestral home Lal Mahal with his family and was plotting the destruction of Swarajya. It hurt Shiva gravely. One lac strong Mogul army was camping at Poona.Shivaji thought of a plan to punish Shaista Khan for the practical insult he was heaping on Shivaji.
Meanwhile, the Mogul empire’s character had changed drastically. Aurangzeb, the Muslim fanatic had managed to descend on the throne of the Mogul empire by ruthlessly disposing off his brothers and imprisoning his father, Shahjahan. He was well aware of Shivaji’s cunning and daredevilry. By then, Shivaji had captured large areas and many forts of the