Note 279 — Chapter II

It is said that the widow of Akrum Khan, who was executed at Candahar in the preceding autumn, was in the field, riding her husband’s charger, and bearing a Ghazee standard. Lieutenant Rattray writes: “As the enemy drew near, a white object was observed in the centre of their front ranks, which seemed the rallying-point for the Ghazees, chieftains, Moollahs, kettle-drums, and standard-bearers. This proved to be no less a personage than the heroic widow of the slaughtered Akrum Khan. Throwing aside her timid nature with her ‘Boorkha,’ she had left the sacred privacy of the Zenana for the foremost rank in the battle-field, had bestrode her husband’s charger, and with his standard in her hand had assembled the tribes.”