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Garhwal repulse of the Mughals (Rani Karnavati)

VictorKingdom of GarhwalRani Karnavati, regent for Prithvipat Shah
1640vs
Mughal armyNajabat Khan

Shah Jahan sent an army into the Garhwal hills while the kingdom was ruled by a regent queen. Rani Karnavati let it in, cut off its retreat, and sent the survivors home with their noses cut off, which earned her the name Nak-kati Rani.

Date: c. 1635–1640 (dates vary)Where: Garhwal hills, UttarakhandType: Campaign
Photo: ShashankMalathisha · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Cite

MLA

“Garhwal repulse of the Mughals (Rani Karnavati).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/garhwal-repulse-of-the-mughals-1640/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Garhwal repulse of the Mughals (Rani Karnavati). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/garhwal-repulse-of-the-mughals-1640/

Result

The Mughal army was trapped in the hills and forced to retreat in disgrace; Garhwal stayed independent.

01The queen of Srinagar

The Panwar kings of Garhwal ruled from Srinagar on the Alaknanda, the land of Badrinath and Kedarnath. When Raja Mahipat Shah died in the 1630s, his son Prithvipat Shah was a child, and his widow Rani Karnavati governed. Shah Jahan, hearing of the gold and the weak regency, sent Najabat Khan from the plains with an army. The year is given differently in different accounts, between about 1635 and 1640.

02Noses for the emperor

The Garhwalis let the Mughal army climb deep into the hills, then closed the passes behind it. Food ran out and the troops, unused to the mountains, sickened. The queen offered terms: the army could go, but each man would lose his nose. The Venetian Niccolao Manucci, who heard the story at the Mughal court, tells it, and Garhwal remembers her as Nak-kati Rani. Najabat Khan returned in disgrace. Garhwal kept its independence until the Gorkha conquest of 1804.

Kedarnath
Place · By the Pandavas, by tradition; revived by Adi Shankaracharya; stone temple of great age at 3,583 mKedarnathThe Himalayan Jyotirlinga at the head of the Mandakini, first of the Panch Kedar and one of Uttarakhand’s Char Dham. The linga is a rough triangular rock, the hump of Shiva in the form of a bull.Read →
Why it matters

Rani Karnavati’s defence kept the Himalayan tirthas of Garhwal outside Mughal rule and is a proud memory of the hills.

Places 2

KedarnathStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Kedarnath

The Himalayan Jyotirlinga at the head of the Mandakini, first of the Panch Kedar and one of Uttarakhand’s Char Dham. The linga is a rough triangular rock, the hump of Shiva in the form of a bull.

BadrinathStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Badrinath

The northern dham of the Char Dham, on the Alaknanda between the Nar and Narayan ranges, where Bhagwan Narayan sits in tapas. Adi Shankaracharya is said to have recovered the murti from the river and set it back in worship.

Places near the battlefield 8

Dhari Devi Temple, KaliyasaurRebuilt
Independent Bharat

Dhari Devi Temple, Kaliyasaur

The guardian Devi of Garhwal, whose upper half is worshipped on the Alaknanda between Srinagar and Rudraprayag and whose lower half at Kalimath. Her murti was moved on 16 June 2013 for a hydro project, the evening before the Kedarnath flood.

Chandrabadni Devi TempleStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Chandrabadni Devi Temple

On Chandrakoot hill between Devprayag and Tehri, the Devi has no image at all: a Shri Yantra on a stone is worshipped under a cloth, and the priest himself covers his eyes when he changes it.

Devprayag and the Raghunath TempleStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Devprayag and the Raghunath Temple

Where the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda meet and the river is first called Ganga. Above the sangam is the Raghunath temple, where Shri Rama did tapas, sung by Periyalvar as one of the 108 Divya Desams.

RudraprayagStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Rudraprayag

The confluence of the Mandakini, coming down from Kedarnath, with the Alaknanda. Here Devarshi Narada did tapas and Bhagwan Shiva taught him music; here the roads to Kedarnath and Badrinath part.

KarnaprayagStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Karnaprayag

The confluence of the Pindar with the Alaknanda, where Karna did tapas to Surya Dev. The temple of Uma Devi stands above the sangam.

Kunjapuri Devi TempleStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Kunjapuri Devi Temple

The nearest of the Tehri Devi shrines to Rishikesh, on a hill where Garhwal holds that the upper body of Sati fell. People climb it before dawn to see the sun rise over the Himalaya.

Adi Badri Temples, ChamoliStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Adi Badri Temples, Chamoli

A cluster of stone temples on the road from Karnaprayag to Ranikhet, counted first among the Panch Badri. Fourteen of the sixteen shrines survive and are protected by the ASI.

Omkareshwar Temple, UkhimathStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Omkareshwar Temple, Ukhimath

When snow closes Kedarnath each Kartik, Baba Kedar is carried down in his palki to Ukhimath and worshipped here through the winter. The town is also where the Puranas place the marriage of Usha and Aniruddha.