Hazrat Mahal (ca. 1820-1879) was one of the primary Indian leaders in the struggle known variously as the Great Mutiny or the Indian War (1857-58).

As the acting regent of the state of Oudh (modern Awadh), Hazrat Mahal led the native resistance to British control in the name of her son, Birgis Qadr. The Indian War was one of the most significant colonial wars of the nineteenth century because it brought India, which had been ruled by agents of the British East India Company, directly under the control of the British Crown. It also united Hindus and Muslims in ways that would never happen again. This led directly to the Indian independence movement and the creation of the modern nations of India and Pakistan. Hazrat Mahal was the only major leader never to surrender to the British, and she maintained her opposition through twenty years of exile in...