Birangana Sati Sadhani: A lesser-known queen of the Chutiya dynasty

On the day of Xaat Bihu, i.e. April 21 (7th Bohag), Assam will celebrate Sadhani Diwas to commemorate the death anniversary of legendary Chutiya Queen Birangana Sati Sadhani.

In the Ahom Buranjis, the chief queen of the Chutiyas in 1523 was referred to as Nang Lung or Bor Konwari. The story of the last queen Sadhani of the Chutiya dynasty is very fascinating and inspiring.

Sadhani was born in the capital city of Chutiya kingdom, Sadiya, to King Dhirnarayan (Dharmadhwajpal) and Queen Srikanti. The various legends and historical accounts mentioned that Sadhani was born after various religious offerings and sacrifices. As she was born after intense sadhana by both king and the queen, she was named Sadhani.

The folklore of the Chutiya community portrays that Swayamvar was organised to find a suitable groom for Sadhani. Just like Swayamvar Sabha of Draupadi in Hindu mythology, King Dhirnarayan also wants to organise a swayamvar for his intelligent, religious and beautiful daughter Sadhani.

Accordingly, King Dhirnaryan organised Swaymvar where he kept the condition that the nobleman who can shoot dead a running squirrel with a bow and arrow will be able to marry Princess Sadhani. The king and the princes from far and distant kingdoms came to the Swaymvar Sabha and took part in it.

Unfortunately, all the invited kings and princes failed to shoot down the squirrel. King Dhirnaryan was disappointed with the failure of invited kings and princes, so he decided to open the Swaymvar for his general subjects who were present in the courtyard. Hearing the announcement of the King, a cowherd boy from the crowd came forward who was quite adept in archery to participate in the event.

The cowherd boy succeeded in striking out the running squirrel to the ground. He was Nitai, who later became Nitipal, the husband of Queen Sadhani and the last king of the Chutiya dynasty.

According to various historical accounts, King Nitipal was not a very efficient ruler. As a result, Sadhani had to intervene in matters related to courts and took various decisions for the subjects of the kingdom.

King Nitipal’s authoritative nature caused much harm to the kingdom and led to the growth of Ghar Bhibisan. He had dismissed the experienced ministers and instead recruited his own friends from his village.

This led to the creation of rebel groups among his council of ministers, Chutiya chiefs and relatives. With every passing day, the downfall of the Chutiya kingdom was witnessed and Sadiya became isolated and weak.

Taking advantage of the downfall of the Chutiya Kingdom, the Ahoms attacked them in 1524. After many battles with Ahom, the Chutiya King Nitipal wanted a truce with Ahom King Suhungmung.

The Ahom King agreed to a truce with Chutiya on the condition that Chutiyas had to hand over Kuber Dutta Property (royal heirlooms), the Pat-Rani (chief queen), a female elephant and ten male elephants.

The Chutiya King agreed to provide a princess other than Pat-Rani, ten elephants and one female elephant but refused to hand over Kuber Dutta Property. However, the Ahom king was not happy with the gifts sent by the Chutiya king as he could not stand with his words for the truce. As a result, the Ahoms attacked the Chutiya Capital Sadiya on the day of Chutiya Bihu/Bisu i.e. April 16, 1524.

On this particular day, the Chutiyas while offering Bihu prayer to ancestral deities were unarmed and only the Deuri (priest) had a weapon. The Chutiya soldiers could not withstand the onslaught of the Ahom army and had to take refuge in Chandangiri Hills. However, The Chutiyas applied guerrilla warfare strategies and used faak dhenu (crossbows) and spears to defend themselves for consecutive days.

Rani Sadhani formed a female fighting squad of 120 warriors with her fellow princess and consorts. They assisted the Army by rolling boulders onto the enemy below which killed a lot of Ahom soldiers.

At this, Ahom General Phrasengmung Borgohain asked the captive soldiers to climb up the ghila creepers and beat the dhol (bihu drum) on the advice of the former Chutiya general. As it was the season of Bihu/Bisu, the Chutiya Army took this to be a sign that reinforcements had arrived.

They considered this to be a sign of victory and thought that the Ahoms had been chased out. Consequently, the Chutiya soldiers came down to the foothills where Ahom forces were hiding. Finally, the Chutiya King Nitipal’s hideout was compromised and killed.

However, various historians have different propositions about the Chuitya Queen Sadhani’s valour and sacrifice. Sir Edward Gait mentions that “The Chutiyas taken by surprise fled hastily to Jungmumgkham (Mathalong) when another engagement was forced on them. Their king was killed by an arrow and his eldest son who rushed forward to avenge his death was also slain.

The Chutiyas then gave way and fled hotly pursued by the Ahoms, who took a great number of prisoners including the whole of the royal family except the principal queen who preferred death to captivity and killed herself with a spear.

The captives and loot (including royal heirlooms) were presented to Shungmung with the heads of the Chutiya king and his son. These were buried under the steps of the temple at Charaideo so that the Ahom king might walk over them whenever he entered the temple.”

Padma Nath Gohain Baruah in Assam Buranji mentions that when Queen Sadhani, who had played a prominent role in the fight against the Ahoms, was asked to marry Sadiyakhowa Gohain, the Ahom Governor of Sadiya, she preferred death to dishonour and sacrificed her life by jumping from the top of Chandangiri Hills with the royal heirlooms.

On the other hand, Satsori Asom Buranji mentioned that the “King was killed, his corpse was laid down in a nearby stream and his chief queen was captured.” Even Deodhani Asom Buranji claims that the Ahoms had beheaded the Chuitya Queen Sadhani like her husband Nitipal.

However, the legends and folktales of the Chutiya community mostly testify the Padma Nath Gohain Baruah and Edward Gait’s account of Queen Sadhani’s demise.

It is evident that Ahom Buranjis were mostly written in Tai language and historians who did not have knowledge of Tai language started writing history on the basis of common folklore. Furthermore, the folklores were always influenced by the ruling elite class and as such history written on the basis of these folklores also changes with the change of power.

Here, I want to point out that if the royal heirlooms were seized by the Ahom army after the defeat of the Chutiya king, perhaps today the royal heirlooms of Chutiyas would have made their way into a modern-day museum. Taking a cue from Padma Nath Gohain Baruah, I would argue that Queen Sadhani sacrificed her life by jumping from the top of Chandragiri Hills with Kuber Dutta Property near Sadiya when the Ahom army killed her husband Nitipal on the battlefield.

In different parts of India, we have encountered various courageous historical characters like Rani Padmini or Padmavati, Harka Bai or Jodha Bai, Hadi Rani, Naika Bai, Rani Durgavati who are celebrated in popular culture and otherwise for their valour and sacrifice.

Unlike the above-mentioned queens, Queen Sadhani is not much recognised and celebrated for the supreme sacrifice she made for her community and motherland. She hardly got space in the popular culture and textbooks of various boards.

It was only in 2017 that the Government of Assam started celebrating April 21 as Sati Sadhani Diwas and marked this day as a state holiday to honour the sacrifices of the last Chutiya Queen Sadhani. Queen Sadhani was truly a symbol of sacrifice, strength, self-dignity, freedom, and valour and was rightly titled “Birangana” by her tribesmen.

Source: EastMojo.com