Since I wrote a long article on Marium-uz-Zamani, the mother of Emperor Jahangir and wife of Emperor Akbar,I thought to write on two other politically powerful women of the Subcontinent in the medieval times.
The tile of the post makes it quite obvious, that I'm talking about Razia Sultan and Chand Sultana Bibi.
Razia Sultan is quite famous. In 1983 a bollywood biopic titled Razia Sultana was made on her life, with Hema Malini taking the titular role. A TV series by &TV is also being aired presently on the life of Razia Sultan.
She is known as the first and last woman ruler in Delhi Sultanate. Razia Sultana was the only woman ruler of both the Sultanate and the Mughal period, although other women ruled from behind the scenes but Razia ruled in her own right.
She was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish, a man known to be progressive and intelligent enough to mitigate Mongol crisis in India by avoiding an invasion by Genghis Khan.
This man saw his daughter Razia to be a more capable person than his son and so he named her the heir to the throne.
But as things are in cases such as these, the nobles were male chauvinistic pigs and they decided to go against the Sultan's wishes and crowned his good for nothing son as the Sultan.
Later on they obviously regretted: both Ruknuddin, the good for nothing brother and his mother Shah Turkaan were assassinated after only six months in power and they had to let Razia be the ruler.
Chand Sultana came nearly three and a half centuries after Razia. She too was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary. Apparently it was the norm for royal ladies to have such an education.
She was the daughter of the sultan of Ahmednagar and eventually married to the sultan of Bijapur. She was childless, and her husband was succeeded by his nephew. At the time of her husbands death the heir was only nine years old and thus started the battle of regents.
There were various factions in the court, the shiahs, the sunnis, habshis (Africans), and the deccanis (the native people of Deccan plateau) all these fought with each other to become regents.
In the end when chaos reigned Chand Bibi was asked to rule Bijapur, the shrewd and politically astute lady brought order to Bijarpur and gave regency to another: Dilavar Khan and left for Ahmednagar.
In Ahmednagar a similar game of regents was being played with some nobles supporting the infant son of the emperor and Mia Manju supporting another child sultan. To gain Mia Manju invited Emperor Akbar's son to attack Ahemednagar, something he later regretted, when the nobles gave him their support.
He went to Chand Bibi, giving up his regency to her. Now Chand Bibi was the regent of Ahemdnagar.
Chand, formed an alliance between her state of Ahmednagar with Golconda and Bijapur, where her nephews ruled. Thus the three great sultanats were united together against the Mughals.
Some might add both women met a sorry fate at the end of their respective tales and that the climax to their story was rather tragic and somewhat anticlimactic.
Razia died when she was trying to put down an uprising in her kingdom and Chand Bibi was poisoned by her own eunuch who though she was betraying their cause. The very people who had asked for their help in difficult times didn't stop to think even once as they dragged them down.
African slaves came into India with the Islamic conquest, along with white slaves and Turk slaves.
In Delhi Sultanat Turk slaves had a better status than black slaves. Slavery in this era however was different from the slavery practiced in Americas. Here the slaves were not treated as chattel or commodity, in a way they were, as they were not free and were owned by people however Slaves in that era were allowed to be soldiers, scholars, even RULERS.
Yup you heard that right even rulers. The first Sultan of Delhi Sultanate: Qutbu l-Din Aibak was actually a slave of the conqueror Muhammad of Ghori. Since he was childless, after his assassination, his empire was divided between his slave generals.
Now Razia had a slave she was very close to, some people believed him to be her lover:
Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut. Yaqut was an African slave and rose in ranks quickly under Razia, it is rumored because they loved each other and had illicit relationship with each other.
These rumors lead to Razia Sultan's downfall, among other things. I don't think Razia loved Yakut, I think among the many backstabbing male chauvinist men of her court, who all wanted to mary Razia and be the Sultan, Yakut was the only one she could trust.
His position as a Habshi slave would mean their would be no marriage.
Chand Sultana's association with African generals in comparison to Razia was of a different kind. In the Deccan, the habshi generals were a major faction in the court and played power politics. But one name stands apart from other generals, this man was a slave under Chand Bibi, but it is unknown whether he ever interacted with the Sultana.
Interaction or not, this man eventually became a virtual successor to the Sultana.
Malik Amber started a humble slave and rose to be a general of a great army. He was pioneer in the art of guerrilla warfare in Deccan region: a tactic lather used efficiently by Maratha warriors and his army defeated two Empires, including Adil shahi and Mughal, many times.
He eventually became a regent of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626. During this period he increased the strength and power of Murtaza Nizam Shah, the sultan (who eventually married Malik's daughter) and raised a large army. He changed the capital from Paranda to Junnar and founded a new city, Khadki. It is said he helped Shah Jehan wrest power from his step mother Nur Jahan
Malik Amber is also credited with having carried out a systematic revenue settlement of major portions of the Deccan, which formed the basis for many subsequent settlements. He was an intelligent and politically astute man, immensely popular Prime Minister who brought a semblance of a happy ending to Chand Sultana's chronicle
Malik Amber's son proved he was no match to his father's skill and acumen, his true successor came in the form of Chatrapati Shivaji, another who dedicated his life to free Deccan from the Mughals
Chand Sultana was seen in TV serial Siyast in Epic channel along with Malik Amber
The tile of the post makes it quite obvious, that I'm talking about Razia Sultan and Chand Sultana Bibi.
 |
| Razia Sultan |
She is known as the first and last woman ruler in Delhi Sultanate. Razia Sultana was the only woman ruler of both the Sultanate and the Mughal period, although other women ruled from behind the scenes but Razia ruled in her own right.
She was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish, a man known to be progressive and intelligent enough to mitigate Mongol crisis in India by avoiding an invasion by Genghis Khan.
This man saw his daughter Razia to be a more capable person than his son and so he named her the heir to the throne.
But as things are in cases such as these, the nobles were male chauvinistic pigs and they decided to go against the Sultan's wishes and crowned his good for nothing son as the Sultan.
Later on they obviously regretted: both Ruknuddin, the good for nothing brother and his mother Shah Turkaan were assassinated after only six months in power and they had to let Razia be the ruler.
 |
| Chand Sultana |
Chand Sultana came nearly three and a half centuries after Razia. She too was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary. Apparently it was the norm for royal ladies to have such an education.
She was the daughter of the sultan of Ahmednagar and eventually married to the sultan of Bijapur. She was childless, and her husband was succeeded by his nephew. At the time of her husbands death the heir was only nine years old and thus started the battle of regents.
There were various factions in the court, the shiahs, the sunnis, habshis (Africans), and the deccanis (the native people of Deccan plateau) all these fought with each other to become regents.
In the end when chaos reigned Chand Bibi was asked to rule Bijapur, the shrewd and politically astute lady brought order to Bijarpur and gave regency to another: Dilavar Khan and left for Ahmednagar.
In Ahmednagar a similar game of regents was being played with some nobles supporting the infant son of the emperor and Mia Manju supporting another child sultan. To gain Mia Manju invited Emperor Akbar's son to attack Ahemednagar, something he later regretted, when the nobles gave him their support.
He went to Chand Bibi, giving up his regency to her. Now Chand Bibi was the regent of Ahemdnagar.
Chand, formed an alliance between her state of Ahmednagar with Golconda and Bijapur, where her nephews ruled. Thus the three great sultanats were united together against the Mughals.
The curious case
So far we know is that both Razia and Chand were strong, politically astute, warrior princesses who became rulers. This is where the similarity seems to end.Some might add both women met a sorry fate at the end of their respective tales and that the climax to their story was rather tragic and somewhat anticlimactic.
Razia died when she was trying to put down an uprising in her kingdom and Chand Bibi was poisoned by her own eunuch who though she was betraying their cause. The very people who had asked for their help in difficult times didn't stop to think even once as they dragged them down.
Habshi Connection
Habshi is the hindi word for someone of African origin. In today's date some people might say, given it's racist history habshi should be thought as offensive much like the word nigger and negro.African slaves came into India with the Islamic conquest, along with white slaves and Turk slaves.
In Delhi Sultanat Turk slaves had a better status than black slaves. Slavery in this era however was different from the slavery practiced in Americas. Here the slaves were not treated as chattel or commodity, in a way they were, as they were not free and were owned by people however Slaves in that era were allowed to be soldiers, scholars, even RULERS.
Yup you heard that right even rulers. The first Sultan of Delhi Sultanate: Qutbu l-Din Aibak was actually a slave of the conqueror Muhammad of Ghori. Since he was childless, after his assassination, his empire was divided between his slave generals.
Now Razia had a slave she was very close to, some people believed him to be her lover:
Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut. Yaqut was an African slave and rose in ranks quickly under Razia, it is rumored because they loved each other and had illicit relationship with each other.
These rumors lead to Razia Sultan's downfall, among other things. I don't think Razia loved Yakut, I think among the many backstabbing male chauvinist men of her court, who all wanted to mary Razia and be the Sultan, Yakut was the only one she could trust.
His position as a Habshi slave would mean their would be no marriage.
Chand Sultana's association with African generals in comparison to Razia was of a different kind. In the Deccan, the habshi generals were a major faction in the court and played power politics. But one name stands apart from other generals, this man was a slave under Chand Bibi, but it is unknown whether he ever interacted with the Sultana.
Interaction or not, this man eventually became a virtual successor to the Sultana.
I am talking of Malik Amber.
 |
| Malik Amber |
He eventually became a regent of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626. During this period he increased the strength and power of Murtaza Nizam Shah, the sultan (who eventually married Malik's daughter) and raised a large army. He changed the capital from Paranda to Junnar and founded a new city, Khadki. It is said he helped Shah Jehan wrest power from his step mother Nur Jahan
Malik Amber is also credited with having carried out a systematic revenue settlement of major portions of the Deccan, which formed the basis for many subsequent settlements. He was an intelligent and politically astute man, immensely popular Prime Minister who brought a semblance of a happy ending to Chand Sultana's chronicle
Malik Amber's son proved he was no match to his father's skill and acumen, his true successor came in the form of Chatrapati Shivaji, another who dedicated his life to free Deccan from the Mughals
Chand Sultana was seen in TV serial Siyast in Epic channel along with Malik Amber
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