Kashmala I Mannadi

Kashmala I Mannadi
Maharani of Tennai
Portrait of Kashmala I Mannadi by Chandraki Nutan
Reign	23 June 1668– 3 December 1728
Coronation	23 June 1668
Predecessor	Aiswarya IV
Successor	Anushka IV
Born	Kashmala Kozai Ganjarejani (1648-04-04)4 April 1648 Ganjarejan, Kingdom of Ganjarejan
Died	3 December 1728(1728-12-03) (aged 80) Aminjikarai, Tennai
Burial	Mahamannada
Wife	Saarani Nivane of Koldari
Issue	Bibi, Uyar Ilavaraci Husay, Ilavaraci Shaperai, Nayak of Mannada Roshina, Nayak of the Court Malalai Kashmala Mannadi, Ilavaraci Uyar Talapati Arsalan, Illavaracan Samoon, Illavaracan
Full name Kashmala I Mannadi Mattasupta
House	Mattasupta
Father	Zarhawar Kozai Ganjarejani
Mother	Aiswarya IV (Adoptive)
Religion	Karami Islam, Buddhism

Kashmala I Mannadi (23 June 1668 - 3 December 1728), known as Kashmala the Great (Kasmala Periyavar), was maharani of Tennai from 23 June 1668 until her death in 1728. Her reign of 60 years is the longest recorded of Tennaiite history. Kashmala I Mannadi's reign was emblematic of absolutism in Siduri. The maharani surrounded herself with a a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as (INSERT LIST HERE).

Kashmala began her rule of Tennai in 1668 after the death of Maharani Aishwarya IV. An adherent of the concept of the divine duty of queens, Kashmala continued her predessors' work of creating a centralised state governed from the capital. She sought to eliminate nayak semi-autonomy persisting in parts of Tennai, by compelling many nayaks to inhabit her palace at Aminjikarai. By these means, she became one of the most powerful Tennaiite monarchs and consolidated a system of absolute monarchy that endured in Tennai until the Chappala Judicial Reforms of 1886. She was dedicated to the idea of religious tolerance and cooperation and issued the Edict of Religion early in her reign. This reaffirmed and made law the long standing and unspoken policy of religous freedom adopted by many previous Tennaiite monarchs.

During Kashmala's reign, Tennai emerged as a leading Siduran power and a center of commerce, culture, and science in Siduri and beyond. The already highly respected Buddhist universities of Tennai, recieved a great deal of support from Kashmala and attracted scholars and students from across Tyran. During her reign, Tennai took part in a number of conflicts of varying scopes. These wars generally concluded in favor of Tennai which also garnered Kashmala the epithet Maharani of Gunpowder and Steel.

Early years

Life in Ganjarejan and Exodus to Tennai

Kashmala was born in 1648 in the Kingdom of Ganjarejan, one of the states that arose from the collapse of the Rawwadid Dynasty. Her father, Zarhawar Kozai Ganjarejani, was the second shah of Ganjarejan and Kashmala was the youngest of his fourteen children. From what few records exist of Kashmala in that period, historians have been able to piece together a rough idea of how the shahdokht (princess) spent the years before her departure from Ganjarejan.

As the youngest daughter of the shah, Kashmala was afforded a degree of independence her older sisters had lacked. As was the case for most royal (Pashtun) women of the period, she was educated in literature, art, weaving, and embroidery. Unlike most (Pashtun) royal women of the period, she also learned archery and how to use a spear. She would also accompany her brothers and father on hunting trips, which was seen as highly unusual for a girl of her royal stature. Outside of her normal lessons, it was commented by the historian Zarin Pirzada that:

“She (Kashmala) was fascinated by the natural world and the forces at work within it. She would observe bird songs and was able to distinguish each variety by its songs...The shahdokt would also roll balls of different sizes and weights down hills and drop different objects to observe how they fell. This exasperated the palace attendants and gave no end of amusement to the shahdokt’s mother...”

While very few records mention Kashmala’s birth mother, it is known that she died when Kashmala was twelve years old. This impacted Shah Zarhawar and not soon after he began actively seeking a marriage for Kashmala. The shahdokt was sequestered to the palace, her education was ceased, and she was forbidden from picking up a bow or spear. Kashmala would later state that:

“I was very distraught after the death of my first mother and the fact that my father locked me in the palace and forbade me education and sport left me confused and angry”.

On Kashmala’s thirteenth birthday, Shah Zarhawar announced his daughter’s betrothal to the son of one his close allies. It is recorded that Kashmala was infuriated by the sudden announcement of her marriage and stormed out of the shah’s audience chamber. What occurred in the period between the announcement of Kashmala’s upcoming marriage and the events that led to her departure from Ganjarejan are not recorded in any known records. A month after the announcement of Kashmala’s marriage, she was set to be executed by public stoning.

The precise reason for the rapid transformation of the shahdokt from beloved daughter to pariah is not explicitly stated in any records from the time, only the general charge of “immoral and sinful behavior”. Many historians do note that another girl, an attendant at the shah’s palace, was also executed on the same day Kashmala would have been. This, her later marriage to Saarani Nivane of Koldari, and that stoning was a common form of execution for homosexual behavior has led many scholars to conclude that Kashmala and the palace attendant had been caught engaging in a homosexual relationship.

On the way to the execution grounds, Kashmala managed to break away from the guards escorting her and ran until she caught sight of a Tennaiite merchant preparing to depart for home. Kashmala was said to have leapt into the back of the merchant’s cart and covered herself with rugs the merchant was bringing home to Tennai. What happened after that is unknown, but it is known that Kashmala traveled with the merchant for a year and managed to avoid capture by agents of her father on numerous occasions. During this year spent with the merchant, it is noted that she was introduced to Buddhist philosophy for the first time and began to learn mathematics.

Life in Tennai and becoming heir to the throne

The merchant that Kashmala had been traveling with was a close friend of maharani Aishwarya IV and their arrival in Tennai, the merchant introduced the now fourteen year old Kashmala to the Tennaiite monarch. Aishwarya was impressed with the teenage girl’s intelligence, curiosity, tenacity, and mastery of the Samil language and offered to continue Kashmala’s education at the renowned Buddhist university in Mannada. The teenaged Kashamala eagerly accepted the offer and spent the next six years studying in Mannada.

While living and studying in Mannada, Kashmala was instructed in a wide variety of topics that included history, mathematics, science, literature, music, languages, and medicine. She excelled in every topic and was said to have spoken over a dozen different languages and the end of her stay in Mannada. Kashmala was also given instruction in various armed and unarmed martial arts, military strategy, and military history. Much like the other topics she studied, she showed great mastery in all that she did.

Buddhism was omnipresent in Mannada as it was the home to not only the university, but also a Buddhist great temple. Surrounded by Buddhist monks and scholars, Kashmala at first only showed casual interest in the teachings of the Buddha. As she spent more time in Mannada, she was impressed by the piety and egalitarian nature of the Buddhist monks and scholars that were here teachers and took on the study of Buddhism. When she left Mannada at the age of twenty, Kashmala had adopted Buddhism as companion faith to the Islam she had learned as a young girl. This adoption of Buddhism greatly influenced how she brought to maturity the writings and teachings of the Karami sect of Islam that had begun development during Aishwarya IV’s reign.

At the age of eighteen, Kashmala was announced as Aishwarya IV’s heir. This not only surprised many nayaks and members of the Mattasupta family, but also Kashmala herself. Aishwarya, had no children of her own and she viewed many of the young women of the Mattasupta family to be too young, inexperienced, inept, and self important to properly take on the mantle of maharani. Kashmala, she argued, possessed all the necessary qualities to rule as maharani: intelligence, courage, common sense, compassion, military skill, piety, and the ferociousness of a mother tiger. Aishwarya quickly quelled any objections to her choice of heir, and then began to educate Kashmala in politics and rulership alongside her other studies.

When Aishwarya IV died in 1668, Kashmala was twenty years old. She was coronated in June of that year and took on the name Mannadi in honor of the town that been her home the first six years of her life in Tennai. The Mannadi name would be taken up as the family name of her daughters and their ancestors with the line of Kashmala continuing into modern times.

Reign and reforms

Kashmala I Mannadi took the throne on 23, June 1668 and astonished her court by declaring that she would rule without a chief minister: " I will govern my own affairs. You [she was talking to the court nayaks and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one". Kashmala was able to capitalize on the widespread public yearning for law and order, that resulted from prolonged foreign wars and domestic civil strife, to further consolidate central political authority and reform at the expense of the feudal aristocracy. Praising her ability to choose and encourage women of talent, the historian Govarthni noted: "it is the voice of genius of all kinds which sounds from the tomb of Kashmala”

Height of power

Centralisation of Power

By the early 1680s, Kashmala had greatly augmented Tennaiite influence in Tyran. Domestically, she increased the influence of the crown and its authority over the brahmin religious class and nayaks, thus consolidating absolute monarchy in Tennai.

Kashmala initially supported Rattaism, which limited brahmin authority in Tennai, and convened an Assembly of the Tennaiite brahmins in December of 1681. Before its dissoltion eight months later, the Assembly had accepted the Declaration of the Brahmins of Tennai, which increased royal authority at the expense of Hatta priestesshood. Without royal approval, priests could not leave Tennai, and appeals could not be made to the Guru Scholarly Assemblies. Additionally, government officials could not be tried by religious authorities for acts committed in pursuance of their duties. Although, the maharani could not make religious law, all religious regulations without royal assent were invalid in Tennai.

By attaching nayaks to her court in Aminjikarai, Kashmala achieved increased control of the Tennaiite aristocracy. According to historian Anne Bordeaux, the maharani turned the palace into:

an irresistible combination of marriage market, employment agency and entertainment capital of aristocratic Siduri, boasting the best theater, music, gambling, sex and (most important) hunting.

Apartments were built to house those willing to pay court to the maharani. However, the pensions and privileges necessary to live in a style appropriate to their rank were only possible by waiting constantly on Kashmala. For this purpose, an elaborate court ritual was created wherein the maharani became the center of attention an was observed throughout the day by the public. With her excellent memory, Kashmala could then see who attended her at court and who was absent, facilitating the subsequent distribution and of favors and positions. Another tool Kashmala used to control her nayaks was censorship, which often involved the opening of letters to discern the author’s opinion of the government and maharani. Moreover, by entertaining, impressing, and domesticating them with extravagant luxury and other distractions, Kashmala not only cultivated public opinion of her, she also ensured the aristocracy remained under her scrutiny

Kashmala’s extravagances at Aminjikarai, extended far beyond the scope of elaborate court rituals. She encouraged leading nayaks to live in Aminjikarai. This, along with the prohibition of private armies, prevented them from passing time on their own estates and in their regional power bases, from which they historically local wars and plotted against royal authority. Kashmala thus compelled and seduced the old military aristocracy into becoming her ceremonial courtiers, further weakening their power. In their place, she raised commoners or the more recently enobled civil aristocracy. She judged that royal authority thrived more surely by filling high executive and administrative positions with these women because they could be more easily dismissed than nobles of founding lineage, with entrenched influence. It is believed that Kashmala’s policies were rooted in her experiences during Nayak Uprising, when women of high birth readily took up rebel cause against their maharani, who was actually the kinswoman of some. This victory over the nayaks may thus have ensured the end of major civil wars in Tennai until the Tennaiite Civil War of 1809.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Kashmala and her wife Saarani Nivane of Koldari raised eight children within the marriage contracted for them in 1664. All of their children survived to adulthood. Kashmala died in 1728, whereupon Saarani remarked that she had never failed to offer her affection or comfort on any occasion.

Saarani Nivane of Koldari, wife of Kashmala I Mannadi

The first years of their marriage were troubled, with Kashmala loathing the idea of having a marriage arranged for her and Saarani being uncomfortable with foreign born Kashmala and her Islamic faith. After a few years though, it was noted by many in the court and foreign dignitaries alike that the Kashmala and Saarani displayed a great deal of genuine affection toward one another. Saarani also cared for and showed an equal affection for the children borne by Kashmala and was known to take direct charge of their education and also worked diligently to free them from the usual politicalization of aristocratic childern.

Piety and religion

Kashmala was a pious and devout maharani and saw herself as the protector of all faiths in Tennai. She made her devotions daily regardless of where she was, following the religious calendar regularly. Under the influence of her very religious wife, she became much stronger in her dual practice of Karami Islam and Buddhism. This included banning theater and secular musical performances during important religious periods such as Ramadan.

Towards the middle and end of her reign, the center for the maharani’s religious observances was usually the mosque and stupa of Kalankana which were located adjacent to her palace in Aminjikarai. She also frequently visited various Hatta, Jain, and Zoroastrian temples to enforce the idea of herself as the protector of all Tennaiite faiths. Kashmala established the religious councils, which advised her and future monarchs on matters regarding the major faiths of Tennai.

Patron of the arts and education

Kashmala generously supported the royal court of Tennai and those who worked under her. She brought the Hampi Academy of Language under her patronage and became its "Protector". She allowed Classical Tennaiite literature to flourish by protecting such writers as Rathisha, Mridhini, and Kalinga, whose works remain influential to this day. Kasmhala also patronized the visual arts by funding and commissioning artists such as Netharsha Mohini, Shathika Manothika , Dinesha Srikara, and Venuha Bhavanapriya, whose works became famous throughout Siduri. Religious and secular Carnatic composers and musicians such as Kausalya Maathiniyal, Thaarangi Balapriya, and Saarika Kirushanthy thrived. In 1677, Kashmala founded the Royal College of Dance, and in 1684, the Royal College of Theater, important driving events in the evolution of musical theater and eventually the Tennaiite film industry. She also attracted, supported and patronized such artists as Liani Nilaveni, who revolutionized marquetry with her art of inlay, today known as "Boulle Work" outside of Tennai.

Over the course of four building campaigns, Kashmala converted a hunting lodge built by Aishwarya III into the spectacular Aminjikarai palace. With the exception of the current Royal Temple, the palace achieved much of its current appearance after the third building campaign, which was followed by an official move of the royal court to Aminjikarai in 1678. Aminjikarai became a dazzling, awe-inspiring setting for state affairs and the reception of foreign dignitaries. At Aminjikarai, the queen alone commanded attention.

Along with the arts, Kashmala was also a generous supporter of education. She donated heavily to Mannada and other Buddist schools and universities, often taking a direct role in the design and expansion of these institutes of learning. The Royal University of Aminjikarai is among the most prominent examples of Kashmala’s hands on approach to educational patronage and is still ranked among the top ten universities in Tyran.

Among the most influential of Kashmala’s actions during her reign, was the establishment of schools throughout Tennai. Differing from other schools that typically catered to the growing middle class and wealthy, these schools served primarily the poor and minority communities of Tennai. This transformed Tennai into highly literate nation by the end of Kashmala’s reign and greatly influenced the cultural and scientific explosion that occurred after her reign.

Family

Issue

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  The Mahamannada, tomb of Kashmala I Mannadi