Ranakadevi

Ranakadevi was a legendary 12th century queen of Khengara, the Chudasama ruler of Saurashtra region of western India.

[1][3] A variation of legend tells that she was born to the king of Kutch but she was abandoned in forest as the astrologer had predicted that whoever marry her will lose his kingdom and die young.

After this Desal and Visal took Jayasimha up to the Girnar fort and asked their aunt queen Ranakadevi to open the gate.

[6][5][7] Several Sorathas (couplets) uttered by Ranakadevi in the bardic accounts evokes sadness but their usefulness as the historical material is doubtful.

Ranakadevi is not mentioned in the Chaulukya era chronicles such as Puratana-prabandha-sangraha or Merutunga's Prabandha-Chintamani but instead they give name Sonaladevi and Sunaladevi respectively.

[1][3] Ranakadevi's paliya (memorial stone) and a shrine still stand on the southern banks of the Bhogavo river in Wadhwan, though Ranakdevi's Temple seems to have been built earlier, probably during the reign of Dharanivaraha of the Chhapa dynasty (last quarter of the 9th century).

[3] One such verse is: For shame murderous Girnar, Why were you not bent crooked; When died Ra Khengara, Thus wept Ranakadevi.

[10] Amar Chitra Katha has published a comic, Ranak Devi: The Story of a Great Queen of Saurashtra (1977, #452) based on the legend.