THE WARRIOR QUEEN Chand Bibi

A painting of Chand Bibi on horseback. She is wearing a red, gold, and green sari-like garment, and is shown in an active and "athletic" pose, riding out to hunt with her falcon on her wrist. — Chand Bibi hawking with attendants
image courtesy of the British Library

Chand Bibi served as regent of two different Sultanates in the 16th century Deccan peninsula, and ruled over some of the most important – and tumultuous – years in the region’s history. Versions of her story have been told and retold in India for generations – but what really happened to this enigmatic queen?

Our guest Dr. Sarah Waheed helps us unravel this fascinating mystery.

Learn more about the important ways that ‘rediscovering’ Chand Bibi’s story could impact modern-day India in this wonderful short article by Dr. Waheed.

And 18th century painting from India, featuring four women on horseback playing polo. The women are arranged two on each side, facing one another, in poses of active athleticism, on a stylized green field with a city backdrop in miniature behind them. — Chand Bibi playing polo
image in the public domain

An18th century playing card, in a curved, oval-edged shape, featuring an image of Chand Bibi on horseback with her falcon on her arm on one side and an image of flying birds on the other. The images are painted in color on a sepia-toned background. — 18th century playing cards with images of Chand Bibi on them
in the private collection of Shashi Dhamadhikari

A modern-looking black and white illustration of Chand Bibi, standing amid the rubble of battle, raising her arm in triumph at having defeated the Mughal army. She is depicted wearing a long white robe covered wtih a long tunic and what appears to be an armored bresatplate and helmet. — “Princess Chand Bibi Defends Ahmadnagar”
from *Hutchinson’s Story of the Nations*, early 20th century

An image of Chand Bibi from the early 20th century
image in the public domain

A mid-20th century illustration of Chand Bibi, seated on horseback and with a falcon on her arm. She is wearing a multicolored sari and headdress, and holding the horse's reins, but the pose is much less athletic/active than the 18th century depictions of her. — “Chand Bibi, Sultan” by Vazir Hasan, 1965

Five panels from a 1974 comic book. Chand Bibi has proclaimed herself Regent, and when told that he noblemen will not support her, declares (hands on hips), "The people will support us even if the nobles will not! Listen, can you hear them shouting in the streets? They say they want a good ruler, man or woman! Our noblemen forget, it is for the people that we rule!" — Chand Bibi comic book from 1974

An imposing looking, very solid building, even in ruins, made of stone, stands on the edge of a river and a forested area. — Ahmadnagar Fort, Maharashtra

High green mountains rise in the distance behind a heavily-forested hilly area and a green field. — Sahyadri Mountains, Maharashta (where Chand Bibi was rumored to have escaped)

A 17th century portrait of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, depicted as a large, imposing man dressed n a light tunic shirt and dark patterned skirt/robe, overlaid with a transparent robe which extends to the floor. He holds a long sword in front of him. — Chand Bibi’s nephew, Ibrahim Adil Shah II – on who’s behalf she was named Regent of Bijapur
image in the public domain

A portrait of Mughal Emperor Akbar, depicted in a short white robe/pleated tunic which reaches his knees, and tight, patterned trousers underneath. He wears a red turban-like head covering and is holding a sword in one hand, at ease and resting on the ground, and a strand of beads or similar object in his outstretched hand. Akbar's army was famously defeated by Chand Bibi in her defense of the fort of Ahmadnagar. — Mughal Emperor Akbar, defeated by Chand Bibi at the Fort of Ahmednagar
image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A map of the Mughal Empire as ruled by Akbar. The Empire extends through all of northern India and surrounding areas, down through southern India, leaving only the southern-most region unconquered. — The Mughal Empire as ruled by Akbar

Sarah Waheed is Research Affiliate of Davidson College, North Carolina, where she has previously taught numerous courses in History and Gender Studies and served as Director of the Semester in India Program. She holds a PhD in South Asian History from Tufts University, and an MA from University of Chicago. Her first book, Hidden Histories of Pakistan: Censorship, Literature, and Secular Nationalism in Late Colonial India is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press this January 2022. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar carrying out research towards her second book, The Warrior Queen Who Died Thrice: Gender, Sovereignty and Islam in Premodern India.

THE WARRIOR QUEEN Chand Bibi

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