A woman of substance -DAWN Magazine; January 2, 2005
TO be an extraordinary woman in a male-dominated society is no mean feat. History is replete with examples of great women who were ill-treated by their societies. In this regard, two Muslim women come to mind who stood the test of time.
As far as the subcontinent is concerned, Raziya Sultana was the first woman to rule Delhi for almost four years (1236-1240). In spite of different palace conspiracies hatched by some noble men who, after being outclassed by her on all fronts, indulged in defamation campaigns against her, she remained firm and resolute.
The second woman was Chand Bibi who, despite not formally holding the reins of her country like Raziya Sultana, braved the might of Akbar’s army under nerve-shattering conditions. Her courageous efforts against the Mughals won her the title of the “Invincible Lady of Ahmadnagar”.
Born in 1547, Chand Bibi was the daughter of Hussain Nizam Shah, the Sultan of Ahmadnagar. She was married to Sultan of Bejapur, Ali Adil Shah. It is said that Ali Adil Shah used to seek his wife’s opinion on how to run the government on a regular basis. She would review military parades with her husband and was not a run of the mill woman. In those days rearing up children and doing household chores were the only two things that women were supposed to be good at. In this sense Chand Bibi was ahead of her time. It was but natural that her growing influence in the affairs of Bejapur alarmed the coterie of some so-called noble men who did not want to be dictated by a woman.
In 1580, her husband, Ali Adil Shah, was murdered and his nephew was put under her guardianship. The coterie devised dirty tactics to destabilize her. Chand Bibi tried to tackle their designs with immense courage, but in 1584 left Bejapur and landed in her homeland, Ahmadnagar.
At the time Burhanul Mulk, Chand Bibi’s brother, was the ruler of Ahmadnagar. He defied the authority of the Mughal emperor Akbar by not showing allegiance to him. This made Akbar furious and he sent his army under the command of Prince Murad and Khan-e-Khanan to invade Ahmadnagar. Prince Murad treated Khan-e-Khanan in a manner that was quite inappropriate. This soured their relations. That’s why a plan to attack Ahmadnagar was chalked out after much delay. Meanwhile, Burhanul Mulk, the ruler of Ahmadnagar died in April 1594. His untimely demise led to a series of internecine feuds among various factions vying for power in the court. The dissidents assassinated the successor of Burhan ul Mulk. Now, Chand Bibi and Mian Manju (the prime minister of Ahmadnagar) supported the infant grandson of Burhanul Mulk, Bahadur Shah to be the rightful ruler of Ahmadnagar. The other groups rejected this suggestion. Mian Manju acted clumsily and committed a mammoth blunder by seeking help from the Mughal army, which was then encamped at Malwa. The Mughal army did not waste a second and reached the outskirts of Ahmadnagar in November 1595. Scared by the threatening posture of the army, and being a coward fellow, Mian Manju escaped with a few of his men to Bejapur.
Now, Chand Bibi was left to defend Ahmadnagar. She decided to face the onslaught of the Mughal army come what may. In December 1595, the Mughals encircled the Ahmadnagar fort. They mined the walls of the fort to create a breach, but all their attempts were reduced to ashes due to the indomitable courage and immaculate leadership of Chand Bibi. Quoting the incident Abul Fazl writes: “Chand Bibi appeared with a veil on her head. She got guns to be brought to bear on the assailants, and stones to be hurled at them, so that they were repulsed in several repeated attacks. During the night, she stood by the workmen and caused the breach to be filled up nine feet, before daylight, with wood, stones and carcasses.”
Even after the siege of more than three months the Mughal army could not capture the fort. Surely, it was Chand Bibi who turned the tables on the Mughals. The morale of the Mughal army was badly hurt. According to some historians armies of Golconda and Bejapur were on their way to help Chand Bibi. Taking stock of the situation, Prince Murad hurriedly signed a peace treaty with Chand Bibi and ended the siege of the fort on February 23, 1596.
As per the terms of the treaty, Berar, one of the five Muslim kingdoms in Deccan, was ceded to the Mughal empire. In turn, the Mughals accepted Bahadur Shah as the ruler of Ahmadnagar under the regency of Chand Bibi.
As soon as the Mughal army left Ahmadnagar, all fugitives, including Mian Manju, came back. They rejected the peace treaty and decided to attack Berar to liberate it from the Mughal control. Chand Bibi warned against any such step but they did not pay heed to her advice. Utterly dejected, Chand Bibi resigned from her position. The combined armies of Ahmadnagar and Bejapur marched towards Berar. They fought an inconclusive war with the Mughal army. Akbar was very perturbed over his army’s dismal show in the war. Therefore, he recalled Khan-e-Khanan and Prince Murad to explain as to why the campaign turned was unsuccessful.
Khan-e-Khanan met Akbar in Lahore who pardoned his negligence and sent him back to the war. Prince Murad did not meet Akbar as he died on May 2, 1599. He was replaced with Prince Daniyal.
Both Prince Daniyal and Khan-e-Khanan reached Ahmadnagar on April 12, 1600 to teach a lesson to those who violated the treaty. Once again, all the weak-hearted made way for Chand Bibi to assume the command of 70,000 besieged men. Akbar, encamped at Burhanpur, was keeping an eye on the campaign. Under the leadership of Chand Bibi, the inmates of the fort put in all their energies to defeat the enemy. Day after day, the besieged army fought tooth and nail and the Mughals were taken aback by the resistance that was put up by Chand Bibi’s men. However, the biggest problem for Chand Bibi was that she was running out of ration.
Under such conditions, and in the interests of her people, Chand Bibi opened the doors of negotiations with the Mughal army on previous terms. A eunuch, Jita Khan, who was also her valet, thought her decision to have negotiations with the invaders was pretty treacherous. Infuriated, he ran into the streets shouting that Chand Bibi was a quisling. An angry mob stormed Chand Bibi’s room and killed her. This horrible act took place on July 3, 1600. Abul Fazl narrates the tragedy:” He (Jita Khan) ran into streets shouting, and declared Chand Bibi to be a traitor. Thereupon a handful of short-sighted urchins followed him into the queens apartment and put her to death.” When the news of Chand Bibi’s murder reached her men, they were shocked. In retaliation, they hacked her murderers into pieces. The remaining men vowed to fight against the Mughals with all their power. But the Mughal army, after a long siege of four months and four days, entered the fort on August 19, 1600, killing 15,000 people.
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