Hadi Rani
Hadi Rani was queen of Rajasthan in India.[1] she was a daughter of a Hada Chauhan Rajput married to a Chundawat chieftain of Salumbar in Mewar who sacrificed herself to motivate her husband to go to war.[2]
When Maharana Raj Singh I (1653–1680) of Mewar called his commander to join the battle against Aurangzeb, the commander, having married only a few days earlier hesitated about doing so. Perceptions of Rajput honour caused him to join the battle despite his reservations. He asked his wife, Hadi Rani, for some memento to take with him to the battlefield. Thinking that she was an obstacle to his doing his duty for Mewar, she cut off her head and put it on a plate. A servant covered it with a cloth and presented it to her husband. Devastated but nevertheless proud, the commander tied the memento around his neck by its hair. He fought bravely, making the Aurangzeb forces flee, and after his victory, he got to his knees and cut his neck, having lost the desire to live.
Legacy
- Hadi Rani Ki Baori is a stepwell located in Todaraisingh town in Tonk district of Rajasthan state in India. It is believed that it was built in 12th century CE.[3]
- Rajasthan Police has formed a women's battalion named 'Handi Rani Mahila Battalion'[4]
References
- Gold, Ann Grodzins (1994). "Gender, Violence and Power". In Kumar, Nita (ed.). Women as Subjects: South Asian Histories. University of Virginia Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-81391-522-7.
- Saccidānandan (2001). Indian Poetry: Modernism and After : a Seminar. Sahitya Akademi. p. 118. ISBN 978-81-260-1092-9.
- "Hadi Rani ki Baori". Pink City. 3 August 2016.
- "The Rajput Kshatrani story of Rajasthan". Patrika. 7 September 2017.