Chand Bibi served as regent of two different Sultanates in the 16th century Deccan peninsula, and ruled over some of the most important – and tumultuous – years in the region’s history. Versions of her story have been told and retold in India for generations – but what really happened to this enigmatic queen? Our guest Dr. Sarah Waheed helps us unravel this fascinating mystery.

Learn more about the important ways that ‘rediscovering’ Chand Bibi’s story could impact modern-day India in this wonderful short article by Dr. Waheed.

Guest Sarah Waheed is Research Affiliate of Davidson College, North Carolina, where she has previously taught numerous courses in History and Gender Studies and served as Director of the Semester in India Program. She holds a PhD in South Asian History from Tufts University, and an MA from University of Chicago. Her first book, Hidden Histories of Pakistan: Censorship, Literature, and Secular Nationalism in Late Colonial India is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press this January 2022. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar carrying out research towards her second book, The Warrior Queen Who Died Thrice: Gender, Sovereignty and Islam in Premodern India.

Music featured in this episode was provided by the Navatman Music Collective, Doug Maxwell, Chris Haugen, Siddhartha Corsus, and field recordings by Sarah Waheed and Bruce Miller.

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