Names like Bajirao and Maharana Pratap have been the talk of the country and are immortal names in the pages of history. Most of us have read texts about the brave men warriors but very little is known about the women who also bravely fought for freedom.

Can you tell five names that come to your mind when you think of women warriors fighting for the freedom of our country? We know Rani of Jhansi who fought the British, but can we recall any more women who freed us from rulers other than the British? Probably not.

It’s high time we talk about these unsung women warriors and know about their stories.

  1. Rani Durgavati (5 October 1524 – 24 June 1564)
    In 1542, she was married to Dalpat Shah, the eldest son of king Sangram Shah of the Gondwana kingdom. She gave birth to a son in 1545 A.D. who was named Vir Narayan. Dalpat Shah died in 1550 and due to the young age of Vir Narayan, Durgavati took the reins of the Gond kingdom. Rani moved her capital to Chauragarh in place of Singorgarh fort. It was a fort of strategic importance situated on the Satpura hill range. In the year 1562, Akbar vanquished the Malwa ruler Baz Bahadur and conquered Malwa, made it a Mughal dominion. Consequently, the state boundary of the Rani touched the Mughal Empire. The Rani’s contemporary was a Mughal General, Khwaja Abdul Majid Asaf Khan, an ambitious man who vanquished Ramchandra, the ruler of Rewa. The prosperity of Rani Durgavati’s state lured him and he invaded the Rani’s state after taking permission from Mughal emperor Akbar. When the Rani heard about the attack by Asaf Khan she decided to defend her kingdom with all her might although her Diwan Beohar Adhar Simha (Adhar Kayastha) pointed out the strength of 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 and Narmada on the other side. It was an unequal battle with trained soldiers and modern weapons in multitude on the Mughal side and a few untrained soldiers with old weapons on the side of Rani Durgavati. Her Faujdar Arjun Das was killed in the battle and the Rani 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. At this stage, the Rani reviewed her strategy with her counselors. She wanted to attack the enemy in the night to enfeeble them but her lieutenants did not accept her suggestion. By next morning Asaf Khan had summoned big guns. The Rani rode on her elephant Sarman and came for the battle. In the course of battle, the Rani also got injured badly near her ear with an arrow. Another arrow pierced her neck and she lost her consciousness. On regaining consciousness she perceived that defeat was imminent. Her mahout 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 even today commemorated as “Balidan Diwas”.
  2. Rani TaraBai (1675-1761): Tarabai Bhosale was the regent of the Maratha Empire of India from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Chhatrapati Rajaram Bhonsale, and daughter-in-law of the empire’s founder Shivaji. She is acclaimed for her role in keeping alive the resistance against Mughal occupation of Maratha territories after the death of her husband, and acting as the regent during the minority of her son. On Rajaram’s death in March 1700, she proclaimed her infant son, Shivaji II as Rajaram’s successor and herself as the regent. As the regent, she took charge of the war against Aurangzeb’s forces. Tarabai was skilled in cavalry movement and made strategic movements herself during wars. She personally led the war and continued the fight against the Mughals. A truce was offered to the Mughals in such a way that it was promptly rejected by the Mughal emperor and Tarabai continued the Maratha resistance. By 1705, Marathas had crossed the Narmada River and made small incursions in Malwa, retreating immediately. In 1706, Tarabai was captured by Mughal forces for a brief period of 4 days but she escaped after she had bribed one Mughal soldier in letting her go by giving him some expensive jewellery including her bangles, which themselves were estimated to be worth 10 million Rs. The Maratha country was relieved at the news of the death of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who died at Khuldabad in Aurangabad in 1707. Of the years 1700–1707, Jadunath Sarkar, a prominent Indian historian especially of the Mughal dynasty, has opined: “During this period, the supreme guiding force in Maharashtra was not any minister but the dowager queen Tarabai. Her administrative genius and strength of character saved the nation in that awful crisis.“
  3. Mata Bhag Kaur: Only daughter of a prominent landowner of a village in the present day Amritsar, Mai Bhago came to become a great warrior who led a group of 40 Sikh warriors against the 10,000 strong Mughal army in the Battle of Muktsar in 1705. Later, she even served as a bodyguard to Guru Gobind Singh during his exile in Maharashtra. She is also revered as a saint in Sikhism.
  4. Onake Obavva: Onake Obavva was a brave woman who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle (Onake) in the kingdom of Chitradurga of Karnataka, India. Her husband was a guard of a watchtower in the rocky fort of Chitradurga.In the state of Karnataka, she is celebrated as the foremost women warriors and patriots. She belonged to the Holayas (Chalavadi) community. During the reign of Madakari Nayaka, the city of Chitradurga was besieged by the troops of Hyder Ali (father of Tipu Sultan). A chance sighting of a man entering the Chitradurga fort through a hole in the rocks led to a plan by Hyder Ali to send his soldiers through that hole. The Guard (Kahale Mudda Hanuma, who was on duty near that hole) had gone home to have his lunch. During his meal he needed some water to drink, so his wife Obavva went to collect water in a pot from a pond which was near the hole in the rocks, halfway up the hill. She noticed the army trying to enter the fort through the hole. She used the Onake or pestle (a wooden long club meant for pounding paddy grains) to kill the soldiers one by one by hitting them on the head and then quietly moving the dead without raising the suspicions of the rest of the troops. Mudda Hanuma, Obavva’s husband, returned from lunch, was shocked to see Obavva standing with a blood stained Onake and several of the enemies’ dead bodies around her. Later, the same day, she was found dead either due to shock or having been killed by the enemy soldiers.
  5. Keladi Chennamma: After marrying King Somashekhara Nayak, Keladi Chennamma became the queen of Keladi (Karnataka).Once when Shivaji’s second son Rajaram was on a run from the Mughals, Chennamma gave him shelter. Upon learning that she took Rajaram under her wing, Aurangzeb sent his men to fight her. She fought bravely and defeated the Mughal Emperor’s army. At the end of the war, a treaty was signed between Keladi and the Mughals, through which the Emperor recognized Keladi as a separate kingdom.

It is important for us to know and remember the above brave hearts. Their contributions cannot be overstated.

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