Did You Know?

Rani Karnavati, the queen of Garhwal was one of the few rulers in India who didn't showed any mercy to their opponents.

It was due to her aggressive approach in 1640 that Mughals never dared to attack Garhwal again.

Mahipat Shah ruled in Garhwal from 1622 AD to 1631 AD.

When he succumbed to death in a battle in 1631, his son Prithvipat Shah was only 7 years old.

So, her wife Karnavati took control of Garhwal till his son became adult.

In 1640 AD, Shah Jahan decided to attack Garhwal when he heard about demise of Garhwal army commander Madho Singh Bhandari.

He sent 30,000 Mughal soldiers under leadership of Najabat Khan to attack Srinagar, the capital of Garhwal.

Queen was aware of the coming attack and she became alert beforehand.

Garhwal army was well trained to fight in the Himalayan mountains though they were less equipped in armoury as compared to Mughals.

They started attacking Mughals at many fronts at regular intervals decreasing their number before the remaining Mughals reached Srinagar.

Afraid of continued attacks, many Mughal soldiers had already fled away.

So they were already in defeating situation.

Garhwal army butchered the Mughal forces and they were even killed while they tried to escape.

Few soldiers who were caught including Najabat Khan were humiliated by the queen.

Their nose were cut off as a sign of humiliation.

The message was sent to Mughal court.

These soldiers were then let free though many didn't survived to return Mughal empire.

Najabat Khan had to survive on Leaves and roots to stay alive before he reached back to Shah Jahan.

He had caused deep embarrassment to Mughals so he was demoted.

Had our kings and queens been merciless like Queen Karnavati, The present India would have been different.

Reference: #SaffronSwords by @authormanoshi