Chand Bibi

Sultana Chand Bibi (1550 – 18 April 1600) was the regent of the Bijapur Sultanate during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah II in 1580–1590, and the regent of the Ahmednagar Sultanate during the minority of her great nephew Bahadur Shah in 1595–1600. Chand Bibi is best known for defending Ahmednagar against the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar in 1595.

Early life Chand Bibi was the daughter of Hussain Nizam Shah I of Ahmednagar, India and the sister of Burhan Nizam Shah II, the Sultan of Ahmednagar. She was versed in many languages, including Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Marathi and Kannada. She played the setar and painting flowers was her hobby.

Bijapur Sultanate

Following an alliance policy, Chand Bibi was married to Ali Adil Shah I of the Bijapur Sultanate. A stepwell (bawdi) constructed near the eastern boundary of Bijapur by her husband was named Chand Bawdi after her.

Ali Adil Shah's father, Ibrahim Adil Shah I, had divided power between the Sunni nobles, the Habshis and the Deccanis. However, Ali Adil Shah favored Shi'as. After his death in 1580, the Shi'a nobles proclaimed his nine-year-old nephew Ibrahim Adil Shah II as the ruler. A Deccani general called Kamal Khan seized power and became the regent. Kamal Khan was disrespectful towards Chand Bibi, who felt that he had ambitions to usurp the throne. Chand Bibi plotted an attack against Kamal Khan with help from another general, Haji Kishvar Khan. After his death, some nobles felt that his infant son Bahadur Shah should be proclaimed the King under the regency of Chand Bibi (his father's aunt).

However, the Deccani minister Miyan Manju proclaimed the twelve-year-old son of Shah Tahir, Ahmad Nizam Shah II, as the ruler on 6 August 1595. The Habshi nobles of Ahmednagar, led by Ikhlas Khan, were opposed to this plan. The rising dissent among the nobles prompted Miyan Manju to invite Akbar's son Murad Mirza (who was in Gujarat) to march his army to Ahmednagar. Murad came to Malwa, where he joined Mughal forces led by Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana. Raja Ali Khan joined them at Mandu, and the united army advanced on Ahmednagar. Later, Shah Murad sent an envoy to Chand Bibi, offering to raise the siege in return for the cession of Berar. Chand Bibi's troops were suffering from famine. On 23 February 1596, she decided to make peace by ceding Berar to Murad, who retreated.

Chand Bibi appealed to her nephews Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda, asking them to unite against the Mughal forces. Ibrahim Adil Shah II sent a contingent of 25,000 men under Sohail Khan, which was joined by the remainder of Yekhlas Khan's force at Naldurg. Later, it was joined by a contingent of 6,000 men from Golconda. Chand Bibi was then killed by an enraged mob of her own troops. After her death, and a siege of four months and four days, Ahmednagar was captured by the Mughal forces of Daniyal and Mirza Yusuf Khan on 18 August 1600.

In popular culture Indian filmmaker Narayanrao D. Sarpotdar made Chandbibi (or Queen of Ahmednagar) a silent film in 1931. Sultana Chand bibi, an Indian Hindi-language film about the queen, starring Shakuntala Paranjpye released in 1937.

Burial place Mirabutorab Torabi Mashhadi received a mission from Nizam Shah of Deccan to bring the bones of Chand Bibi to Mashhad and bury them next to the Imam Reza shrine.