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| Rani LaxmiBai | |
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 Equestrian statue of Rani Laxmibai |
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| Alternate name(s): | Manu,Manikarnika |
| Place of birth: | Kashi, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Place of death: | Gwalior,India |
| Movement: | Indian Independence Movement |
Lakshmibai, The Rani of Jhansi (c. 1828 – 17 June 1858) (Hindi- झाँसी की रानी Marathi- झाशीची राणी), the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi in North India, was one of the leading figures of the Indian rebellion of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India.
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Early life
Originally named Manikarnikka at birth, she was born to a Maharashtrian Karhade Brahmin family sometime around 1828 in the Hindu city of Varanasi. An alternate date of 19 November 1835 was asserted by D. B. Parasnis in his biography of the Rani. However, no other credible historian agrees with this date and all the evidence points to 1828. The simplest and most direct evidence comes via John Lang. In his account of his meeting with the Rani in 1854 he mentions that her vakil said she was a woman of about 26 years.
Her father Moropant Tambey was a Karhade Brahmin and her mother Bhagirathibai was a cultured, intelligent and religious woman. Born Manikarnika, she was affectionately called Manu in her family. Manu lost her mother at the age of four, and responsibility of looking after the young girl fell to her father.
Marriage
Moropant Tambey traveled to the court of Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi, when Manu was thirteen years old. Manu was to be married to Gangadhar Rao.
She married Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar,in 1842, and became the Maharani of Jhansi. As is customary with Indian royalty, she was given a different name after her marriage, and was henceforth known as Lakshmibai.Lakshmibai gave birth to a son in 1851, but this child died when he was about four months old.
In 1853 Gangadhar Rao fell very ill and he was persuaded to adopt a child. He relented only a day before his death, and adopted a distant relative, a boy named Damodar Rao. To ensure that the British would not be able to contest the adoption, the Rani had it witnessed by the local British representatives. Maharaja Gangadhar Rao died the following day, 21 November 1853.
Annexation
At that time, Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of British India. Though little Damodar Rao, adopted son of late Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar and Rani Lakshmi Bai, was Maharaja's heir and successor under Hindu tradition, the British rulers rejected Rani's claim that Damodar Rao was their legal heir. Lord Dalhousie decided to annex the state of Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse.
The Rani then did the unprecedented: she sought the advice of a British lawyer and an officer of East India Company, Robert Ellis, and appealed her case in London. Although these petitions were well-argued, they were ultimately rejected. The British Indian authorities clearly sought to punish Rani for her presumptuous behavior. They confiscated the state jewels and deducted her husband's debts from her annual pension of Rs. 60,000. She was required to leave Jhansi fort for the Rani Mahal in Jhansi town, as well. But Rani Lakshmibai was determined to defend Jhansi. She proclaimed her decision with the famous words :Mi mahji Jhansi nahi dehnar (I will not give up my Jhansi)citation needed.
The War of 1857
Jhansi became a center of the rebellion upon the outbreak of violence in 1857. Rani Lakshmibai started strengthening the defense of Jhansi and assembled a volunteer army. Women were recruited as well as men and given military training. The rani was accompanied by her generals. Many from the local population volunteered for service in the army ranks, with the popular support for her cause on the rise.
In September and October of 1857, the Rani led the successful defense of Jhansi from the invading armies of the neighboring rajas of Datia and Orchha.
In January of 1858, the British Army started its advance on Jhansi, and in March laid siege to the city. After two weeks of fighting, the British captured the city, but the rani escaped in the guise of a man, strapping her adopted son Damodar Rao closely on her back. She fled to Kalpi where she joined Tantya Tope, another maratha general and another leading figure of the 1857 mutinty (later hanged by the british).
Death
The Rani met her death on 17 June, during the battle for Gwalior. The Rani of Jhansi donned warrior's clothes and rode into battle to save Gwalior Fort, about 120 miles west of Lucknow in what is now the state of Madhya Pradesh.[1] There is dispute about the exact circumstances of her death. According to contemporary British reports she was mortally wounded by a stray bullet and climbed her own funeral pyre. A letter written by T.A. Martin says that,
refusing the assistance of Tantia Topee who offered to take her off, she ordered a ladder to be planted against a hayrick which was close by, ascended it unassisted, and ordered her people to set fire to it, which was done. This happened in Goosain's Bagh near Phoolbagh. I went and saw the spot.[2]
The British captured Gwalior three days later. In his report of the battle for Gwalior, General Rose commented that the Rani had been "the bravest and the best" of the rebels. Because of her unprecedented bravery, courage and wisdom and her progressive views on women's empowerment in 19th century India, and due to her sacrifices, she became an icon of Indian nationalist movement.
Epilogue
- Her father, Moropant Tambey, was captured and hanged a few days after the fall of Jhansi.
- Her adopted son, Damodar Rao, was given a pension by the British Raj, although he never received his inheritance.
- The administration of an undivided India passed on from the East India Company to the British crown.
- The Rani was memorialized in bronze statues at both Jhansi and Gwalior, both of which portray her in equestrian style.
Influence
Rani Lakshmibai became a national heroine and was seen as the epitome of female bravery in India. When the Indian National Army created its first female unit, it was named after her.
Indian poetess Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote a poem in the Veer Ras style on her, which is still recited by children in schools in contemporary India.
Literature on Jhansi ki Rani
- The Queen of Jhansi is the English translation of Jhansir Rani by Mahashweta Devi. This book is fictional reconstruction of life of Rani LaxmiBai and was originally published in Bengali (Bangla), year 1956, ISBN 81-7046-175-8.
- Jhansi ki Rani, written by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, is a heroic nationalist poem honouring the Rani, and is very popular in India.
- Flashman in the Great Game - Two meetings between Flashman and the Rani are described in this historical fiction novel about the Indian Revolt by George MacDonald Fraser.
- La femme sacrée, in French, by Michel de Grèce. A novel based on the Rani of Jhansi's life in which the author imagines an affair between the Rani and an English lawyer.
- "Rani" a novel (2007) in English by Jaishree Misra.
Films about Jhansi ki Rani
- The Tiger and the Flame (Jhansi Ki Rani) (1953) was the first technicolor film released in India, directed and produced by Indian filmmaker Sohrab Modi.
- The Rebel (Jhansi Ki Rani) is a new film by Ketan Mehta, and is a companion piece to his film Mangal Pandey: The Rising. The screenplay is by Farrukh Dhondy from a story by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi. The film is currently in pre-production.
Timeline
Please see [1] for a presentation of a Timeline, from the birth Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, until her death.
See also
External links
- THe Rani of Jhansi, a brief biography
- Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi
- John Lang's account of his meeting with the Rani
- Poetry on Jhansi Ki Rani by Smt Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
- Day by day account of Rani Lakshmibai's role during the First Indian Rebellion
- Queen Lakshmibai of Jhansi by Dr. Jyotsna Kamat
References
- ^ "The India of the Nawabs". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
- ^ Extracts from three letters by a Mr Martin to John Venables Sturt
Maza Pravas: 1857 cya Bandaci Hakikat (marathi "My journey: the truth about the 1857 rebellion") by Vishnu Bhatt Godse. Amar Balidani by Janki Sharan Verma Zila Vikas Pustika, 1996–97, Jhansi Meyer, Karl E. and Shareen Blair Brysac. Tournament of Shadows. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint, 1999.
