| Script :
Kamala
Chandrakant
Illustrator : Ram
Waeerkar
ISBN : 81-7508-232-1
Vol. No : 606
For all practical purposes,
Gondawana (a part of Madhya Pradesh today), the thickly forested region
over which Rani Durgavati ruled, was isolated from the rest of the country.
A number of sages and hermits made it their home, its very isolation making
it an ideal place for meditation. Even though sheltered from the storms
that swept over it, it did not escape the cultural and social influences
of the north.
At one time, a number of
Rajput chiefs encroached upon this territory of the Gonds and eventually
brought the whole region under their control. For a while the Gonds accepted
their new rulers. Soon the desire for independence gripped them and gradually,
about six hundred years ago, four independent Gond kingdoms were established.
One of then was Garha-Mandala and its founder, Jadurai.
Rani Durgavati, the widow
of Jadurai’s descendenant, Dalpat Shah is famous for her heroic resistance
to Akbar’s expansionist campaigns. How she bravely faced his vast armies
with her small army of 500 men will ever be remembered and retold with
pride for generations to come.
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