[The following is in regards to the death of Queen Durgavati in mid-sixteenth century north-central India.]
But in 1564, Durgavati faced an enemy even greater and more implacable: the Mughal emperor Akbar, who wanted to add the Gondwana lands to his own. First, Akbar sent a message saying that should Durgavati agree to become his vassal and pay him tribute, he would leave her kingdom unharmed. Durgavati refused, declaring that it would be better to die in freedom than to live as a slave to this foreign king. So Akbar sent an army in an effort to either affect the latter or hasten the former.
Durgavati responded with an army of her own, leading the charge with bow and arrow. After heavy losses and the wounding of her son, things looked bleak. And then, Durgavati was struck by an arrow through the eye. Undaunted and fueled by battle lust, she broke off the shaft and kept on fighting with the arrowhead still embedded in her eye. But Durgavati was hit again, this time in the neck. Afraid of being captured, she commanded her elephant handler to kill her. He refused, and so she grabbed his dagger and took her own life.
The battle was lost, and so was the kingdom.
Source:
McRobbie, Linda Rodriguez. “Seven Warrior Queens of Antiquity.” Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories From History-- Without the Fairy-Tale Endings. MJF Books, 2013. 30-1. Print.
Further Reading:
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar
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