Dost Mohammad
Khan then sent an offer to Rani Kamplapati to join his Haram by marrying
him. The Rajput Queen was furious, and left with no respectable
alternatives, one fateful night she committed suicide with her two maids
in the upper lake in the year 1723. Nothing is known about the fate of her young son. What is known is
that immediately after her death, the Gonds in Bhopal gave her a hasty
Hindu traditional cremation, even before the news of her death could reach
Dost Mohammad Khan in Islam Nagar, earlier called Jagdishpur, renamed
after a massive massacre of natives here by Dost Mohammad and his Afghan
fighters. (‘Banganga Se Halali’ by Niranjan Verma.) Dost Mohammad Khan
finally proclaimed himself the first Nawab of Bhojpal and renamed it
Fatehgarh. His celebrations could not last long and he died only three
years later in the year 1726. The last of the Gond Kingdoms thus fell to
the Afghans in 1723 and the Gonds lost their homeland, forever. The main part of the Kamlapati Palace is now the
office for Archeological Survey of India and is a living heritage till
date. This is the only part of the palace that is well maintained and in
good shape. The two story building has arches towards the garden and
balconies towards the lower lake.
Adjacent to this block are ruins of what once would have been a
double story building facing the lake, with three arches on each floor. A
long series of stairs lead to the lowest floor, which also has three
arches opening in the ghats were the Queen had her bath and swimming
sessions. The entire complex is built on
a massive wall of the dam built by Raja Bhoj, separating the upper
and lower lakes. Rani
Kamlapati was the very beautiful wife of Nawal Shah, a Hindu Gond tribal
warlord who had his capital in Ginnaur. Bhopal was then a small
village of Gonds and the royal Gond family had a palace here owing to the
beauty of the upper and lower lakes. The
Gonds owned their kingdom and were a ruling community to this time.
However, the continuous engagement
in war had taken its toll and destruction of institutions by conquerors
had disturbed the chain of natural inheritance of art and creativity. It is said that it was the beauty of Rani
Kamlapati that proved fatal for her. The
local rulers around Bhopal attacked Ginnaur and killed her husband. The
Queen fled to her Bhopal palace from Ginnaur fearing for her life. Here,
she hired Dost Mohammad Khan and offered a reward of 50,000 currency in
lieu of the heads of her enemies who had killed her husband. Little did
she know that Dost Mohammad Khan had already set his eyes on Bhopal.
He took only a few days to attack Chainpur Badi and destroy the enemies of
the queen. However, after his return he attacked and killed most of the
Queen’s trusted aides and asked her for more silver for his army. The
Queen’s treasury was looted by his army and he decided to make Bhopal his
permanent destination. (‘Begums of Bhopal’ by Shaheryar Khan) The ruins of the
Kamlapati Palace are full of arches, as in popular Hindu architecture.
Seen below is the lower lake where she relished swimming and boating. The Palace of Gond
Queen Kamlapati at Kamla Park Bhopal. It was here that she hired Dost
Mohammad Khan to avenge the murder of her husband changing the fate of
Bhopal forever.
