Rani Devamala

Devamala (Sanskrit:देवमला, or Devamati (देवमती), full name: Vedikamati- Raya -Jadhava) is a queen regnant of the Shunga dynasty and the wife of King Pushyamitra Shunga and mother of Agnimitra and the daughter of King Devakumara Raya Jadhav. She married Pushyamitra Shunga at a very young age, and became a mother of one prince known Agnimitra. The lesser known facts of Devamala are she is also called by many names and some names were kept by her husband, Pushyamitra Shunga. Some origins are unnamed about her in some legends, mostly in other parts, the stories mention the daughter of King Devakumara Raya Jadhav's daughter Princess Devamala's marriage to King Pushyamitra Shunga. But, hence, after giving birth to a child, Devamala and her husband Pushyamitra named the baby as Agnimitra. Agnimitra, like his father, Pushyamitra Shunga, married three princesses known - Dharini, Iravati and Malavika. Later, Devamala's son, Agnimitra, had sons namely Vasumitra and many others. After the death of her husband, Pushyamitra Shunga, Devamala too dies naturally after the birth of Vasumitra. It's described she was kidnapped by Pushyamitra Shunga for rejecting him for his marriage. Without the king's permission, Pushyamitra Shunga made Devamala, his queen. The information about Queen Devamala is not mentioned in History but mentioned in other sources. It is described that Pushyamitra Shunga loved her immensely.

Devamala
Rani
Empress of the Shunga dynasty
Successor	Dharini
Spouse	Pushyamitra Shunga
Issue	Agnimitra
Names Vedikamati - Raya - Jadhav
Dynasty	Shunga
Father	Devakumara Raya Jadhav
Religion	Hinduism

In Hindu Scriptures

Kidnappiation of Devamala

Once, Pushyamitra Shunga saw a beautiful girl named Devamala, he fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. But he wanted her father to marry her off to him, but he refused. So, he kidnapped his daughter, Devamala, for not giving her hand in marriage.

Birth of Agnimitra

Agnimitra, was a son born to Pushyamitra Shunga and his wife, Devamala after the marriage. When Agnimitra, grew up, he started behaving like his father but his mother, Devamala was a poor and innocent woman who is known as unnamed in History.

In History

She is known unnamed in History, because, in History, her information is well written in small words but they have little information about her and her husband's successor, Agnimitra.

She becomes the mother in law of Agnimitra's wives -

• Dharini
• Iravati
• Malavika

These wives used to obey their mother in law and hence Devamala was known as "Devi - Rani Devamati athva Devamala ", entitled by her husband, Pushyamitra Shunga. The mentions about Pushyamitra Shunga are very popular than the information of his family. The queen died when Agnimitra's second son Vasumitra was born. After her, her daughter in law, Dharini, succeeded the throne and Agnimitra succeeded his father's throne.

Becoming the Empress of Shunga dynasty

She was the wife of Brihadratha's minister Pushyamitra Shunga and the mother of her husband's successor, Agnimitra. She was the daughter of King Devakumara Raya Jadhav who was a good ruler of some kingdom but it's unnamed in some stories. She is the grandmother of Emperor Vasujyeshtha and Emperor Vasumitra, from her son, Agnimitra.

She became the queen of Shunga after marrying Pushyamitra Shunga. Her age was 28 at that time, when she was kidnapped, and Pushyamitra married her in 567 BCE at the earliest. Some stories name her Shrutimati in other stories usually but not so far. The story happens when the time-line ends with Agnimitra's birth, the son of Pushyamitra Shunga and Devamala. The timeline starts when Brihadratha Maurya was killed and birth of Agnimitra, afterwards. Princess Devamala then accepted Pushyamitra Shunga, as her husband and bore him a son named Agnimitra. Basically, Agnimitra was taken care by his mother Devamala, when he was small and a learning child. However, Pushyamitra Shunga had married one princess, that was Devamala and he did not marry other women after marrying, Devamala. She is known as the "Rani of Shunga Empire" because she married the Shunga Emperor, Pushyamitra Shunga and became a mother of a son named Agnimitra. She was succeeded by her daughter in law, Dharini.

In the Shunga Period

The ruling of Maurya period started, when Princess Devamala was unmarried at that time. Pushyamitra Shunga searched every kingdom for a princess but then he found Devamala and without her father's permission, he kidnapped her. This story tells us about the Mahabharata character, Duryodhana who kidnapped two princesses from two kingdoms.

She is the friend of Devi, wife of Ashoka. After her, her daughter in laws started to rule Shunga dynasty. Dharini was the first one who ruled it and the second was Iravati. After this, all women started ruling the kingdom. The first Shunga Empress was known, the Queen regnant Devamala.

Cow-slaughter

Devamala, is indeed regarded as a character with excellent manners in her. Once the historian Romila Thapar, describes Devamala in a shortly tone-

The popular queen of Shunga, regarding the mother of medical treatments in history as Pushyamitra destroyed her treatment which raised Devamala's anger and she raised her voice against Cow-slaughter which started in the past.

Pushyamitra's love did not stop for her misfortune as she loved him but she raised her voice and told him that-

"O Natha, why are you making such slaughters for animals. Don't they have a simple and personal life to live?"

Devamala asked her husband in a little angry way but she didn't mean it. Pushyamitra replied to her in a sweetly way as he took a vow that he'll only have one wife, and he'll stay with her forever. When Agnimitra grew up, he took his mother's blessings. According to Romila Thapar, she built many stupas and viharas.