Kota Rani - The Forgotten Daughter of Vitasta

Dr Romesh Raina Gen. Secretary AIKS 2009

Because of recurrent foreign invasions and their efforts to change the demography, Kashmir most of the times has remained in the news for wrong reasons. The attraction for these invaders was its scenic beauty. During the long course of Kashmir History they played havoc with its social fabric by creating large scale destruction and mayhem, traumatizing the valley brutally in the process. The process of brutality reached its extreme during later years, especially in Afghan rule.

At the beginning of the 14th century after the death of Avantivarman, complete purification set in the Valley which rapidly spread to the farthest corners of the kingdom, though Dida Rani who has carved out a special place in the history of Kashmir because of her skilful, courageous and successful rule, did try to stem the rot. Even though she was an outstanding ruler of her times, Hindu rule was touching its Nadir. Chronic internal dissentions were gradually raising their ugly head with central authority too weak to assert itself. Kota Rani's appearance on the scene is widely seen as a saviour at this stage.

History, it appears, has remained unkind to her. as her contribution has largely gone unnoticed, especially to second generation Kashmiris having little contact with their ancestry. The focus of this paper is about her frequent marriages which have been a subject of intense speculation. In fact such big compromises in her personal life seem to have been dictated by the force of circumstances prevailing at that time and the decisions of remarriage must have been guided by the larger interests of the state. However, it needs a proper understanding and careful analysis but in my own humble way I shall try to present her on the basis of little knowledge acquired through various sources.

Kota Rani-who?

She has been described as the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir who had to face deceit and intrigue most of the times during her rule. There has reportedly been a consistent effort by her opponents to capture and seize the state but she and her loyal ministers acted as an obstruction and prevented Muslim takeover to a large extent during her tenure. She did partly succeed in her mission of not allowing the kingdom to slip away. It assumes significance to know the circumstances under which she came into prominence and played her role almost to perfection.

A foreign invader from Tartar, better known to the history as Dalcha, is reported to have brought large scale death and destruction to the people of Kashmir in 1319. He indulged in large scale loot, arson, massacres sending shivers down the spine of the people as barbarism unleashed by him was never seen by people before. It surprised and baffled the people greatly. Sahadeva, king of Kashmir at the time, got too frightened and left the Valley out of fear leaving behind the people at the whims and fancies of ferocious Dalcha. Terror stricken people, on hearing about the disappearance of their king, fled to safe havens reducing the Valley to a ghost city.

King Sahadeva's disappearance created a power vacuum in the kingdom which made it as hunting ground for other people to stake their claim for the throne. At this stage, three claimants appear on the scene. One a scheming and clever Shahmeer who was appointed as some official in the palace by king Sahadeva himself, by dint of his hard work and intellect both within and outside palace. But for tactical reasons he is reported to have withdrawn from the race thinking probably his time was yet to come and leaving the field open for another man. Second, Rinchan Shah, a prince from Ladakh who had been granted political asylum along with his followers by king Sahadeva. He too had proved his credentials by helping the king to retrieve the situation from external aggression which had earned him considerable respect. This made him fairly popular there. Third, Ramchandra the Prime Minister and commander in chief of the armed forces, who too was in hiding at the time of aggression by Dalcha. The power struggle hastened when the news of Dalcha's death along with his army in a snow storm spread, Rinchan Shah clearly emerges as a man with mission. He along with his faithful followers outsmarts Ramchandra by getting him killed and capturing rest of his followers which include Kota Rani also.

There are various schools of thought about her lineage as to who she was. Some authorities believe that she was the queen of King Sahadeva who had taken refuge in the fort to avoid Dalcha's fury and some strongly believe that she was Ramchandra's daughter. It has a wider acceptability. But one thing on which everybody is almost in agreement is that she must have been very young and beautiful.

Marriage as an act of diplomacy:

Weakened by continuous misrule and torn by internal crisis, Kashmir lay at the crossroads. To begin with, it is important to make a mention of King Harsha who ruled Kashmir in early 1100 A.D. Some of his controversial decisions played havoc and probably shaped the destiny of Kashmir. He is reported to have re-organized his army on the basis of caste reservations and the impact of this short sighted policy proved very costly in later years. As per Kalhana, the army was divided in groups of 100 soldiers, each group kept under the command of a Muslim officer. This was done to prevent revolt and ensure its loyalty to the King. Muslims gradually started organizing themselves as a force only to emerge as an important distinct group. After Harsha they used their war fighting capabilities and defense qualities as an instrument to increase their influence in army. It is their very strength which helped many rulers to retain power on tottering thrones. Because of one wrong step an atmosphere of conflict and confrontation developed between professional and Muslim soldiers. New policy of liberalization came into existence to stop it but it resulted in the cracks in co-existence, traditional unity started crumbling and poison of religious conversion started spreading.

The roots of Hinduism were getting severed from its civilization with the inflow of foreign religious preachers, with large scale politico-social upheavals threatening the basic civilizational structure of the Valley. The need to keep the soul of Hinduism alive assumed significance; Kota Rani's subsequent decisions reflect her burning desire and intentions clearly. She begins with Hinduising the minds of foreign rulers by using marriage as an act of diplomacy and this is very clearly revealed in her follow up actions like:

1.           Her marriage with Rinchan Shah, killer of her father Ram Chander.

2.           She continues to be known in the history as Kota Rani till end though her husband Rinchan

Shah converts to Islam and is known as Sadar-ud- din.

 

3.           She does not allow her son Haider, born out of marriage from Rinchan Shah, to become king

after the death of Rinchan Shah.

4.           Instead, she marries again to Udyandeva, brother of Sahadeva only to retain the kingdom of

Hindus.

5.           Her preference of Bhikhshan Bhatta as Prime Minister over Shahmeer.

From all these accounts one deduces the prevention of basic society of Kashmir from erosion and prevalence of Hindu character of the society as the driving force behind her compromises in her personal life. Marrying the murderer of Ram Chandra for example is something extraordinary and denial of throne to her son Haider is equally very bold, courageous and a diplomatic step. All the important steps taken by her convey that she wanted to control the total administrative structure of the state with the sole objective of maintaining the indigenous Hindu faith of the state and prevent Muslim ruling class from emergence by diluting the patronage to it and denying it the important support structures for sustenance. Even scheming Shahmeer's ascendance to power by eliminating Bhikhshan Bhat the PM by deceit is seen as his desperate act to seize the power. To ensure the success of this programme, he even enlisted the support of Lavanya, a powerful minister who prevented Kota Rani from reprisal, necessary for weakening the political control of Kota Rani from within.

Even while convinced about her being trapped by Shahmeer's troops inside the fort and knowing that her end was near, yet she was preparing battle strategies to thwart the conspiracy and decided to play a diplomatic card by offering herself in marriage to Shahmeer. Her subsequent suicide after releasing that inevitable can't be stopped, was aimed to prevent Shahmeer a diplomatic victory of catching her alive.

With her death, history witnessed the end of an era. In her lived a very courageous and a diplomat par excellence of her times. She weathered every storm with poise and emerged stronger after every event. But misfortune never allowed her a peaceful life, it haunted her at every step. She had to fight anarchic conditions prevailing in the state at that time when foreign invasions and intrigues were a common feature. At every stage she succeeded in reassuring the people about her capabilities as a ruler. She has secured a place of prominence for herself in the history of Kashmir. I conclude with Jona Raja's saying about her "As the canal nourishes cultivated fields with water, so did the queen nourish the people by bestowing much wealth on them. She was to the kingdom what the moon is to the blue lotus and to the enemy she was what that luminary is to the white lotus".

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Courtesy: Dr Romesh Raina and May 2009, Naad.