Rani Jindan Kaur- The Last Queen

We have heard many stories about many female warriors and rulers, but this lady Rani Jindan- I came across her story through the book “The Last Queen” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Before this book personality, I heard of his husband Ranjit Singh from my grandmother. She used to tell me about Ranjit Singh's contribution to the golden temple. But she never told me anything about the Rani Jindan — the last queen of Punjab, called out as a mother of Khalsa.

In this book by Chitra Banerjee, she explained the whole journey of Rani Jindan Kaur from Rag to Rich, from a commoner to the regent queen, from a girl to a mother. The whole journey is divided into four parts-

1. Girl- where the tale actually makes you experience the teenage life of Jindan Kaur in a village Gujranwala, Pakistan with her mother, her sister Balbir (who always complained that everyone treats Jindan better because of her look), her brother Jawahar (whom she loves and admires the most) and her father manna (Who works as a royal dog trainer). How her father manna makes her move from the village to Lahore? How did she fall in love with maharaja and Laila (the horse of maharaja)? And How she confessed her love to the maharaja?
2. Bride- The part where Jindan Kaur is now the youngest and favorite queen of the Maharaja and reason of jealousy to all other queens in the zenana. This explains the journey of her transformation into a queen. How she copes up with everything at Zenana? How her eagerness to gain knowledge impresses maharaja and makes him share all the political and social matters with her? How the relationship between Rani Jindan and Maharaja Ranjit Singh is growing? The whole love story of this part felt heartwarming and exquisite which make you feel attached.
3. Queen- As we know good things don’t last long, so there comes an uncertain and Harsh part where the Maharaja Died and the only friend of Rani Jindan at Zenana decided to perform Sati with Maharaja. And after all this, she only wanted to keep her son away from the court politics but destiny was not in favor and she ends up becoming a regent queen and Dilip a future king. Now to maintain her son and dead husband's authority She stood against all odds and defied many traditions by stepping into court for a continuation of state business. In the process, she gained the trust and respect of her Khalsa troop, but her hotheaded and short-sighted nature led her to the downfall of the empire, the downfall of her, and the war with the Britishers. She faced betrayal of her own love, her own army men, her relatives in the war, but Britishers were so fearful at that time of her hold and influence that they executed a plot against her and robbed her everything. And now to broke her spirit, she was separated from her son and exiled, but she stood firm and fought against all the Britishers.
4. Rebel- The time after Rani Jindan lost her everything and imprisoned by the Britishers for 13 years. She escaped and reached Kathmandu. And then this part tells the story of how she finally met her son in Calcutta and how she felt after hearing his son called with a title Black Prince of Victoria? How she agreed to go to England in the love of her son? How she tried her best to break the influence of Britishers from her son’s head? How she finally took her last breath in front of her beloved son?

The whole story of Rani Jindan in this book will make you feel your feet in her shoe. And you will realize the character of Rani Jindan may be flawed, but her love, her fearlessness, her eagerness to gain knowledge is incredible and we can all get inspired by her. So it is a must-read. And At last few lines from the book-

“I am Rani Jindan, Mother of the Khalsa. That is my identity. That is my fate. ”