Indian Warrior Queen - Rani Sukadei

Indian Warrior Queen - Rani Sukadei

Rani Sukadei(1686 A.D. - 1726 A.D.) was an Indian warrior queen of the princely state of Banki, Odisha. She is known for her display of courage and bravery in the battles against Gajapati of Khurda and is regarded as the only undefeated warrior queen in Indian history.

Indian Warrior Queen - Rani Sukadei

Queen Sukadei was born in 1686 A.D to the king of Badamba(Cuttack), Odisha, Maharaj Balabhadra Bira Bara Mangraj and his queen Maharani Jayanta Debi. Rajkumari Sukadei during her childhood was very playful and inquisitive. One day while watching her brother, Rajkumar Fakir Chandra practice sword fighting, she expressed her desire to learn the same to her father. Maharaja agreed to it and arranged tutors to train Rajkumari Sukadei in sword fighting and teach her other warfare skills. Rajkumari Sukadei married the King of Banki(Cuttack), Odisha, Maharaja Dhananjay Trilokyanath Harichandan Deb. Their union strengthened the ties between the two princely states, Banki and Badamba nowadays in Cuttack. 

After marrying the King of Banki Princess becomes the Queen of the princely state of Banki, Odisha. After their marriage, Royal Couple visited the Jagannath temple at Puri for the blessing of Lord Jagannath.  when their on the way back to Banki, they were invited by the King of Khurda, Gajapati Gopinath Deva to his court. It is said that when the Raja and Rani paid a visit to Gajapati. Gajapati at Sukadei's first sight got attracted to her so much so that he planned an attack on Banki in order to woo her as soon as the King and Queen departed for Banki from Khurda.  

Raja Dhananjay refused to accede his kingdom to Khurda on Gajapati's demand, thus decided to fight a war with the Gajapati. Now both the army is ready for war at the battleground of Ragadigrama. The Battle of Ragadigrama is ready to witness a history that was going to be created for the first time in Odisha History. The combined armies of Badamba and Banki fought with the army of Khurda. As the army of Khurda is huge in size after the combination of both the army.  The Gajapati's army still outnumbered the combined armies of the defendants. Raja Dhananjay suffered huge losses at the hands of Gajapati. He was ultimately killed in the battle.

At the Battle of Ragadigrama - Rani Sukadei

When this news reached Sukadei it devastated her but then she got determined to protect her husband's kingdom. Only when the commanders of Banki had accepted defeat. Sukadei emerged and motivated the soldiers and commanders not to lose hope. She declared that the war is not over and she shall herself lead the army to the battleground. In the afternoon Sukadei marched with a troop of 700 soldiers towards the Gajapati's camp. Both the armies again met at Ragadigrama. Sukadei single-handedly killed several soldiers of the Gajapati's army. She challenged the Gajapati for a fight. Gajapati undermining her abilities stepped down from his horse to fight with her accepting her challenge. The valiant queen defeated the Gajapati and captured him, thus ending the war.

Now everyone is going to witness Rani Sukadei's Judgment, which she was supposed to give the next day. When everyone expected her to behead the Gajapati to seek revenge for her husband's death. Rani Sukadei surprised everyone when she came forward and forgave the Gajapati. She said that she being a widow knows the sufferings attached to the life of a widow, she would not let any other woman go through the same and thus let the Gajapati free. It is also said that because the Queen was an epitome of justice and peace, she forgave the Gajapati as she did not want to initiate a series of wars between Banki and Khurda that would continue for generations, only to seek vengeance, had she punished the Gajapati.

The Battle of Ragadigrama and wise Judgment has created another History in India. This made her the Indian Warrior Queen Rani Sukadei. Rani Sukadei dies at the middle age of her life in the year of 1726 A.D.