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Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (19 November 1828 – 18 June 1858[1][2][3]), born as Manikarnika and renamed Lakshmibai in 1842 after her marriage, was the queen of the Maratha-ruled Jhansi State, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became for Indian nationalists a symbol of resistance to the British Raj.
Lakshmibai was born probably on 19 November 1828[1][3][4][5][6] in the holy town of Varanasi into a Marathi Brahman (Karhade Brahmin) family.[7][8] She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu.[9] Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai). Her parents came from Maharashtra. Her mother died when she was four. Her father worked for a court Peshwa of Bithoor district who brought Manikarnika up like his own daughter.[10] The Peshwa called her "Chhabili", which means "playful". She was educated at home and was more independent in her childhood than others of her age; her studies included shooting, horsemanship, and fencing.[11][12]
Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, in May 1842[4][13] and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai) in honour of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.[14] She gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, in 1851, who died when four months old. The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Rao's cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before the Maharaja died. The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter from the Maharaja instructing that the child be treated with respect and that the government of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime. After the death of the Maharaja in November 1853, because Damodar Rao was adopted, the British East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao's claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories. In March 1854, Lakshmibai was given a pension of Rs. 60,000 and ordered to leave the palace and the fort.[15][16] Rani Lakshmibai has been known to the British most commonly as "the Rani of Jhansi"; in Hindi she is often known as "Jhansi ki Rani".
Rani Lakshmibai was accustomed to riding on horseback accompanied by a small escort between the palace and the temple although sometimes she was carried by palanquin.[17] Her horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Badal; according to tradition she rode Badal when escaping from the fort in 1858. The Rani Mahal, the palace of Rani Lakshmibai, has now been converted into a museum. It houses a collection of archaeological remains of the period between the 9th and 12th centuries AD.
According to a memoir purporting to be by Damodar Rao he was among his mother's troops and household at the battle of Gwalior; together with others who had survived the battle (some 60 retainers with 60 camels and 22 horses) he fled from the camp of Rao Sahib of Bithur and as the village people of Bundelkhand dared not aid them for fear of reprisals from the British they were forced to live in the forest and suffer many privations. After two years there were about 12 survivors and these together with another group of 24 they encountered sought the city of Jhalrapatan where there were yet more refugees from Jhansi. Damodar Rao surrendered himself to a British official and his memoir ends in May 1860 when he has been allowed a pension of Rs. 10,000, seven retainers only, and is in the guardianship of Munshi Dharmanarayan.[18]
A rumour that the cartridges supplied by the East India Company to the soldiers in its army contained pork or beef fat began to spread throughout India in the early months of 1857.[19] On 10 May 1857 the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut; when news of this reached Jhansi, the Rani asked the British political officer, Captain Alexander Skene, for permission to raise a body of armed men for her own protection and Skene agreed to this.[20] The city was relatively calm in the midst of unrest in the region but the Rani conducted a Haldi Kumkum ceremony with pomp in front of all the women of Jhansi to provide assurance to her subjects, and to convince them that the British were cowards and not to be afraid of them.[21][22]
Till this point, Lakshmibai was reluctant to rebel against the British. In June 1857 a few men of the 12th Bengal Native Infantry seized the fort containing the treasure and magazine, and massacred the European officers of the garrison along with their wives and children. Her involvement in this massacre is still a subject of debate.[23][24] An army doctor, Thomas Lowe, wrote after the rebellion characterising her as the "Jezebel of India ... the young rani upon whose head rested the blood of the slain".[25] Four days after the massacre the sepoys left Jhansi having obtained a large sum of money from the Rani, and having threatened to blow up the palace where she lived. Following this as the only source of authority in the city the Rani felt obliged to assume the administration and wrote to Major Erskine, commissioner of the Saugor division explaining the events which had led her to do so.[26] On 2 July Erskine wrote in reply that he requested her to "manage the District for the British Government" until the arrival of a British Superintendent.[27] The Rani's forces defeated an attempt by the mutineers to assert the claim to the throne of a rival prince who was captured and imprisoned. There was then an invasion of Jhansi by the forces of Company allies Orchha and Datia; their intention however was to divide Jhansi between themselves. The Rani appealed to the British for aid but it was now believed by the governor-general that she was responsible for the massacre and no reply was received. She set up a foundry to cast cannon to be used on the walls of the fort and assembled forces including some from former feudatories of Jhansi and elements of the mutineers which were able to defeat the invaders in August 1857. Her intention at this time was still to hold Jhansi on behalf of the British.[28]
On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai near the Colonel Malleson wrote in the History of the Indian Mutiny; vol. 3; London, 1878 'Whatever her faults in British eyes may have been, her countrymen will ever remember that she was driven by ill-treatment into rebellion, and that she lived and died for her country.'[43]
Equestrian statues of Lakshmibai are seen in many places of India, which show her and her son tied to her back. Laxmibai National University of Physical Education in Gwalior and Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi are named after her. Rani Laxmi Bai National Agricultural University in Jhansi was founded in 2013. The Rani Jhansi Marine National Park is located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. A women's unit of the Indian National Army was named the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. In 1957 two postage stamps were issued to commemorate the centenary of the rebellion: the 15 n.p. stamp portrayed the Rani on horseback.
Patriotic songs have been written about the Rani; one of them includes these lines (translated): "How valiantly like a man fought she / The Rani of Jhansi / On every parapet a gun she set / Raining fire of hell / How well like a man fought the Rani of Jhansi / How valiantly and well!"[44] She is a symbol of woman manhood as the line says in her respect "Khoob ladi mardani wo to jhansi wali rani thi" (Bravely and relentlessly she fought like men).
The most famous composition of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan is the Hindi poem Jhansi ki Rani, an emotionally charged description of the life of Rani Lakshmibai.
Uttar Pradesh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi district, Hinduism, Lucknow
Delhi, India, Rajasthan, Pakistan, Maharashtra
Mughal Empire, Delhi, Meerut, United Kingdom, East India Company
Spanish language, Canada, France, Italian language, English language
Hinduism, Maharashtra, India, Indian independence movement, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Uttar Pradesh, Maratha Empire, Jhansi, India, Maharashtra
Hindi, Uttar Pradesh, Jhansi District, Lucknow, Kanpur
Mughal Empire, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Indus Valley Civilization
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