If RANAVALONA was present today.....

"Ever heard about a mad queen ? "

"Umm..." this will take time to answer. 

So let me put it the other way. 

"Ever heard about any mad king?"  

"yes..definitely"

Who can forget Genghis Khan. A legend say that he slaughtered certain height of people by saying that dwarf people don’t have right to live after every battle of his life. We had Timur who ordered the construction of a tower made out of living men, one stacked on top of another and cemented together. We had our modern day rulers like Adolf Hitler, Stalin or Mao Zedong. This was quite easy to answer. As per "the law of very obvious nature" men are valorous and may turn to be cruel at times.

Coming back to our previous question."Ever heard about a mad queen?" May be one or two names strike you after putting immense pressure on your brain. If we look back to the history very few women have been triumphant and among them minuscule have been cruel and daredevil. One such name is RANAVALONA.

RANAVALONA was a queen of Madagascar, the fourth largest island of the world. She got the throne after the death of her husband having no natural heir to the throne. In order to assure her acceptance as a royal ruler she accounted herself to be a member of male sex. This concept was easy for the tribals to understand in a patrilineal society. Soon after getting to the throne she started reversing the policies of her husband. He was pro-European and a liberal ruler. She was anti symmetric to him. She ended "Anglo-Malagasy (madagascar) treaty of friendship" and defeated french in a war. She forbade the practice of Christianity in her kingdom. Here comes the story of her madness which is still untold:

If someone was suspected of being untrustworthy, they had to eat three chicken skins followed by poisonous tangena nut and regorge (vomit ) them to prove themselves faithful.

In 1845 she ordered 50,000 subjects to go on a hunt of a buffalo.A fifth of them collapsed due to lack of food and harsh conditions.Surprisingly no buffalo could ever be killed even after 4 months long effort and tragic ending.

In one incident, Ranavalona ordered to dangle fifteen Christian leaders by rope over a rocky ravine.Their ropes were then cut. Such was her cruelty. She is referred to as "Ranavalona the cruel".

Undoubtedly, she had committed heinous crime. Crime against humanity is the biggest crime of all. Ironically her barbarism had saved the island from imperialism till the time she was alive. No other ruler was able to protect the island nation from falling into the hands of foreigners. She was able to expand her territory to the entire island. She was known as a protectorate of tribal culture. At her coronation, she proclaimed:

"Never say, ‘she is only a feeble and ignorant woman, how can she rule such a vast empire?’ I will rule here, to the good fortune of my people and the glory of my name! I will worship no gods but those of my ancestors. The ocean shall be the boundary of my realm, and I will not cede the thickness of one hair of my realm!"

I sometimes wonder,what do we learn from these lessons of history? If such a brutal Queen was present in 21st century, what would she do? She was not a ruler to be exalted. Even the history would not want her back if given a chance. 

But we live in a society where an ancient practice of "wearing toe ring" was started just to keep females under control. 

Where tradition like "foot binding" was still practiced in China till 20th century. The feet of young girls were tied since birth to prevent them from growing in a tightly tied small packed shoes. The aim was to have feet no longer than 7.5-10 cm which were known as "Golden lotus." Friar Odoric of Pordenone who visited northern China between 1322 and 1328 CE noted:"And with the women the great beauty is to have little feet; and for this reason mothers are accustomed, as soon as girls are born to them, to swathe their feet tightly so that they can never grow in the least."

We live in a society where "female genital mutilation" is a common practice. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, over 200 million girls alive today have suffered FGM in over 30 countries. 

We live in a society where "transphobia" is a hidden reality. 

Don't you think,we need to learn a little valour from even the cruel ladies of olden times? If Ranavalona was present today she would inflict stringent punishment of all times over the rapists, molesters and the criminals. She would not even spare the law breakers in pandemic. What we should not learn from her is heartlessness, ruthlessness, hatred, anger, grudge and savagery. What women should reject about her is the portrayal of being a part of males. A women's denial to be a women and acceptance of being a male just to prove her strength shows her agreement with the fact that women are feeble. On contrary what our women should definitely learn from her is 'belief in their strength', 'heroism' and 'power to counter every wrong' inflicted on them. What our men should learn is not to doubt the potency of women. She is equally capable to excel in every possible field. What our society should learn is to treat all genders (male, female, transgenders, gender neutral,..........) as equal. Only an inclusive treatment will lead to sustainably balanced society.