June 18, the day Laxmi Bai, queen of Jhansi died and an icon of rebellion was born
Watching the queen from a distance, only one phrase echoed in Rose's mind: 'Meri Jhansi Nahi Doongi.' The challenge hurled at the British steeled his resolve. Facing him was the lioness of Jhansi, and the daughter of Kashi, later immortalised by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's stirring poetry. The lioness was ready to fight, like a mardaani.Kashi (Banaras), The BirthplaceThe year of her birth is unknown. Some say she was born in 1828. Others think it was later. But the legend of Manikarnika – Manu - began with a cry piercing the sacred air by the Ganges in the holy city of Kashi (Banaras).Legend has it that the city was made of gold. But the evil deeds of its residents robbed Banaras of its glitter, turning it into an ordinary town. On the side facing the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Aurangzeb's mosque on the Ganga ghat lived Moropant Tambe (originally Wai), a Karhade Brahmin courtier, and Bhagirathi, his beautiful wife. In their house was born a girl who would be hailed years later as a freedom fighter.Manikarnika, named after the Ganga, was raised in the household of Baji Rao II in Bithoor, the Peshwas of the Maratha confederacy. Barely five, she sparred with sticks in Bithoor's dusty courts, outpacing boys twice her age. Among her sparring partners were future heroes - the Peshwa's sons Nana Saheb and Rao Saheb, and nephew Tatya Tope.advertisementDenied a ride atop an elephant, she famously declared that one day she'd have dozens. Peshwa Baji Rao II, her mentor, saw a warrior's spirit. 'This girl,' he said, 'will carve her name in history.' Her fate was sealed. Destiny and Jhansi waited.Jhansi - The ShadowOrchha, a town on the Betwa River, is considered the kingdom of Lord Rama. One of his descendants built the fort of Jhansi in the early 17th century on a steep rock just 18 km away. According to legend, when the ruler of Orchha asked if the new fort was visible from his fort, he was told it appeared 'jhain-sa', like a shadow. Thus was born Jhansi, the gateway to Bundelkhand in modern Uttar Pradesh.Rebellion was not foretold. During the British Raj, its ruler Ramchandra Rao demonstrated his loyalty to the British by offering to adopt the Union Jack as Jhansi's official flag. It was allowed. This exhibition of loyalty earned the family the right to rule Jhansi through their legal heirs in perpetuity. (The Ranee of Jhansi: DV Tamhankar)advertisementTrouble erupted when Gangadhar Rao ascended the throne amidst a succession battle. After his first wife passed away childless, Rao married Manikarnika. Their son, born in 1852, passed away within three months of birth. Soon, Gangadhar Rao also died because of dysentery, after adopting a relative, whom he named as the heir.But the adoption ran into a law passed by the British.The Doctrine of LapseIn the chaos of 1853, the Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie's ruthless policy, struck Jhansi like a thunderbolt. This British stratagem allowed the East India Company to annex princely states without direct heirs, dismissing adopted successors. When Raja Gangadhar Rao died, the British refused to recognise the adopted son as Jhansi's ruler, and annexed Jhansi in 1854. Manikarnika, revered as Lakshmi Bai after the Indian goddess of wealth, was reduced to a pensioner.Her pleas to be recognised as Regent and her adopted son as king were rejected, despite favourable reports from the British political agent. Lakshmi Bai was confined to a life of obscurity on the fringes of Jhansi. But the circle of life was spinning.The Mutiny - Queen's GambitBy 1857, discontent simmered across India, fueled by British insensitivity towards peasants and artisans. There were fears of forced conversions, most notably through the alleged mixing of bones in wheat flour for soldiers, and the rumoured use of cow and pig fat in rifle cartridges, an affront to Hindu and Muslim sepoys.advertisementIn May, the Indian Mutiny erupted in Meerut, spreading like wildfire to garrisons across the north, including Jhansi. On June 7, 1857, Jhansi's sepoys rose in revolt, seizing the Star Fort, a British outpost within the city. Many British residents sought refuge there, hoping for safety.By June 8, the mutineers, led by risaldar Kala Khan, besieged the fort. After negotiations, the British surrendered, expecting safe passage, but were massacred near Jakhan Bagh, just outside the city walls.Lakshmi Bai's involvement in the Jhansi massacre of 1857 remains contested. British accounts, such as those of her lawyer John Lang, suggest she lacked control over the mutineers, who acted independently. Her letters to British officials, dated June 1857, claim she protected some Europeans and sought to maintain order, yet her role was scrutinised (National Archives of India). Conversely, other British reports accused her of complicity, arguing she failed to intervene. Evidence suggests she was overwhelmed by the chaos, caught between her people's fury and her limited power. The massacre, nonetheless, established Jhansi as a rebel stronghold and marked Lakshmi Bai as a British target.advertisementThe Ruler ReturnsWith the British expelled, the mutineers declared Lakshmi Bai the ruler of Jhansi in June 1857. Some accounts suggest the mutineers offered her leadership in exchange for a payment of 1,00,000 rupees, threatening to appoint Sadasheo Rao, a relative of the deceased Maharaja, if she refused.She assumed power, not as a passive figurehead but as a determined leader. By late 1857, she had solidified her rule, organising a force of roughly 10,000 troops. These included sepoys, volunteers, and a women's brigade, called the Amazons of Jhansi. Historical accounts suggest every woman in Jhansi was trained to ride and shoot. With her army ready, the Rani of Jhansi was waiting for the British assault.March 1858, The Noose TightensMarching from Bombay through Indore, Hugh Rose's Central India Field Force reached Jhansi in March 1858, intent on crushing the rebellion's heart. By now, the rebellion had been crushed everywhere, only isolated pockets of challenge, like Jhansi, remained.The British army, equipped with heavy artillery and disciplined troops, was led by a great leader. Its batteries were loaded with heavy firepower. Facing them was a rag-tag coalition led by the young Rani.On March 24, Rose commenced a relentless bombardment, targeting Jhansi's walls with cannon fire. The fort, built on a steep rock, was a natural stronghold, but its defenses crumbled.Rose's strategy was methodical: weaken the walls, then storm the city. By early April, after days of bombardment, breaches appeared in Jhansi's defenses.Convinced that Jhansi was about to fall, British troops launched a full-scale assault, scaling the walls under heavy fire.The Fall and The EscapeLakshmi Bai, realising the fort could not hold, made a daring decision. On the night of April 4-5, as the British tightened their grip, she escaped with a small retinue, including her adopted son.Legend claims she leapt from the fort's walls on horseback, though accounts vary. British records confirm her escape, noting her route toward Kalpi, where she joined rebel leaders like Tatya Tope.Jhansi fell to Rose's forces. But Lakshmi Bai's escape marked not defeat but defiance. The rebels fought at Kalpi, where they were defeated. At this point, Tatya Tope suggested a daring plan.Gwalior, a part of the Maratha confederacy, was still supporting the British. Unlike other kingdoms of the region, it had not joined the 1857 rebellion, its soldiers, though restive, had not supported the revolt by sepoys of other states. Tope outlined a plan for attacking Gwalior, and turning its formidable fort into a bastion of the rebels.On June 1, 1858, Tope, alongside Rani Lakshmi Bai and Rao Sahib, pounced on Gwalior. The pro-British Maharaja of Gwalior fled as the rebels seized the fort, declaring Hindavi Swaraj under Nana Saheb Peshwa. They persuaded the Gwalior contingent to join their cause. Celebrations broke out throughout north India, people assumed the end of British Raj was imminent with the impregnable Gwalior fort now under the control of Nana Saheb, Tope and Lakshmi Bai.But Rose's army was still pursuing them. The defining battle of the rebellion was waiting.June 17, 1858, GwaliorGeneral Hugh Rose's army started blasting the Gwalior fort. Despite initial resistance, the rebels were outgunned and outnumbered. The British artillery and cavalry overwhelmed their defenses. On June 18, Lakshmi Bai, dressed as a male soldier, made a daring attempt to break through British lines but was fatally wounded in combat near Kotah-ki-Serai.The British were unaware of her death for two days. One report said she was shot and killed near Phool Bagh batteries. Another British account suggests she was with Rao Sahib and Tatya Tope, observing advances, and was struck by bullets and a sabre, surviving briefly before being carried toward Phool Bagh, where she was cremated.The biggest compliment came from General Rose. He acknowledged her as the bravest and best military leader of the rebels. Unlike most of the rebels, she vowed to fight till the end, and perished on the battlefield.Her death marked a devastating blow to the rebellion. The British recaptured Gwalior soon after, consolidating their control. Tatya Tope continued guerrilla attacks on the British before being captured and hanged. The Peshwa turned into a sanyasin, but was caught and executed.Lakshmi Bai's martyrdom became an Indian legend, which is still sung with pride. Because of her, Lakshmi Bai is not just a name, it is a synonym for courage and defiance - Meri Jhansi Nahi Doongi.Trending Reel
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Time of India
6 hours ago
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6 months in Prem Nagar, lifetime in Shadipur: Inside convict marriages that shaped Andaman's local-born
Meerut: In the mid-19th century, on a strip of ground in Port Blair that would later be called Shadipur, men stood in straight rows under the watch of colonial warders. They were not soldiers, nor labourers seeking work. They were convicts — men who had survived years of penal labour, maintained spotless conduct, and earned the rare designation of first-class convict with a ticket-of-leave. Facing them were women, also convicts, brought from as far as Uttar Pradesh, Afghanistan, Karachi and Odisha. They walked slowly along the line, stopping when they found a man they chose. That moment—the meeting of two lives under the weight of chains—was the centrepiece of what the British called the "swayamvar parade". The match was only the beginning. For six months, the chosen couples lived in Prem Nagar — "Love Town" — a cluster of huts where they lived under constant oversight. A jury of officials decided whether they could marry formally and move to Shadipur, the "marriage settlement." Both places remain on the Port Blair map, unremarkable to the casual passer-by, but for 70,000 islanders today, they are points of origin. The Andaman Penal Settlement — kala paani — was born from the British response to the 1857 uprising. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Could This NEW Collagen Blend Finally Reduce Your Cellulite? Vitauthority Learn More Undo Thousands of men, freedom fighters and hardened criminals alike, were shipped across the Bay of Bengal to labour in a colony they would never leave. The marriage system was not designed for romance but for policy: a calculated measure to discipline convicts, settle them on land, and populate the remote outpost. From it grew what is now called the Local Born Pre-1942 community. Pronob Kumar Sircar, historian and author of 'The History of the Andaman Islands', said, "The system was layered. The jury assessed whether the couple had lived in harmony during the trial period. Only if satisfied would they approve formal marriage and allotment of land. The swayamvar was part of a colonial toolkit. The British sought to turn prisoners into settlers. They offered women, land and incentives to reshape the identity of these men—from convicts to colonisers. " Some unions trace directly to the revolt itself. Nine men from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, among them Ayodhya Singh and Khedu Lakshman, were sent to the islands for killing the district magistrate and two British officers. Jaipal Singh, 68, a retired agriculturist and Ayodhya Singh's great-great-grandson, recalls family accounts of how his ancestor married an Odisha-born convict named Lalta Pradhan, known in settlement records as Billa, Convict No. 327. "As per the stories passed down, my ancestor once went back to his village, Samerpur, then in Banda district, but was turned away," Jaipal said. "The caste rules were rigid, his family refused to accept that he had married outside the caste, and his land had been confiscated. Relatives feared he would demand his share. He came back to the islands with his wife. There was no going back." Jhansi soldiers, too, became part of the colony's story. Itu Patel, Devi Prasad and others who had fought under Rani Lakshmi Bai arrived in the settlement and married through the same parade system. Their descendants—among them Dineshwar Lall and Dr Prem Kishen—still live on the islands. Dr Kishen, 77, an anaesthetist and great-grandson of Devi Prasad, says his family's oral history describes an Andamans of arid soil, dense forests, poisonous reptiles, and a survival rate barely above a third. "Later, the British shifted to generating revenue from the islands and brought in a 'brick & bouquet' approach—punishment with some incentives. Marriage became one such incentive, leading to the swayamvar parades," he said. Sircar says that colonial authorities erased caste markers among descendants, assigning surnames such as Ram and Lall to convicts from different regions. "From the parades in Shadipur to today's multi-generational households, these marriages were more than arrangements—they were a means to survive and a foundation for new lives in exile," he said. The system lasted into the early 20th century. "The British gave each newly married couple four acres of land, enough to start afresh," said Lall, Itu Patel's fourth-generation descendant. "But we were casteless in the eyes of the mainland. And since freedom fighters and hardened criminals had both gone through the same parades, everyone claimed to be a freedom fighter." Today, the streets of Shadipur and Prem Nagar carry no sign of the colonial experiment that created them. But for those who still call themselves local-born, the history is not in archives—it is in family names, land deeds, and a collective memory of how strangers in chains became the first families of the Andamans. ----------------- SIDEBAR: From exile to settlement: How the British built Andaman's penal colony British India established penal settlements in the Andaman Islands in the aftermath of the 1857 uprising. The first prisoners arrived in March 1858, tasked with clearing forest, building roads, and erecting colonial structures in harsh tropical conditions. Mortality rates were high due to disease, brutal labour, and inadequate food. Between 1858 and 1939, approximately 83,000 Indian and Burmese convicts were transported here, making it the largest such penal colony in the British Empire. Ross Island became a key administrative hub, while the term "kalapani" entered public memory as shorthand for exile and loss of caste. Women convicts, a smaller group, faced both hard labour and high mortality. From 1882 to 1887, female deaths averaged nearly 10 per 1,000 annually. Marriages were introduced partly to stabilise the male convict population and secure cooperation with colonial authorities. The construction of the Cellular Jail, completed in 1906, institutionalised solitary confinement for political prisoners, particularly those involved in India's independence movement. Today, the jail stands as a national memorial, but its history remains deeply entwined with the formation of the local-born community in the islands. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
The Hindu
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Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
School long gone, but 109-year-old handwritten registers intact
Ghaziabad: There isn't much in this building that has survived time. A witness to Independence, world wars, and the 1857 revolt, this little know piece of history in Wrightganj had multiple avatars, the longest one that of a school. Except the architecture, its heritage has withered away, except for a pile of vintage lanterns that lie strewn on its floors, illuminated by shafts of light that the arched windows let in during the day. And three registers that date back to 1918. Those are nearly intact, thanks to the efforts of former principals who made sure its brittle, yellowed pages were preserved as best as personal industry would allow. You Can Also Check: Noida AQI | Weather in Noida | Bank Holidays in Noida | Public Holidays in Noida | Gold Rates Today in Noida | Silver Rates Today in Noida Though the earliest entry in official records dates to 1916, the school building in Wrightganj was constructed in 1821 as a British tehsil office, former principals told TOI. A section of it was converted into a residential school in 1881, and that gave it the name Tehsil or Town School. On Aug 15, 1947, hours after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's address to the nation, Shri Murlidhar took charge as the school's first principal in free India. Shri Murlidhar led the school till Feb 15, 1949. Fourteen principals followed after him, the registers show. The information is neatly written on their pages that begin in 1918 and end in 1948, covering one of the most eventful phases of recent history. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Could This NEW Collagen Blend Finally Reduce Your Cellulite? Vitauthority Learn More Undo "Since the beginning, only classes 6, 7, 8 and 9 were taught at the school. It was probably sometime after Independence that it was renamed as Purv Madhyamik Vidyalaya," says Jagdish Sharan Sharma, the school's principal from 1998 to 2012. "UP Board was established in 1921. Before that, there were only schools till Class 8. In the Meerut division and western UP region, the school in Wrightganj is probably the oldest. Students from across other districts also came to study there," says Dharmendra Sharma, district inspector of schools, Ghaziabad. The school exists today but now operates from a new building, to which it moved in 2001, just about 200m away from the British-era one. Its current principal Layik Ahmed, who took the post in 2013, said he and his predecessors have, over the years, "tried to preserve as much of this building as possible". "The old registers were preserved and maintained. If the old building can be preserved, it can be turned into a heritage building or a museum. My father also studied in the school during the 1950s. It holds much historical value," he says. But there are no specific preservation plans for the heritage building. "We will see if anything can be done to preserve it," said OP Yadav, the local basic shiksha adhikari (BSA). The school building, it appears, isn't the only one to carry the weight of history. Named after a British collector, Wrightganj itself is a town noted in The Imperial Gazetteer of India for its role in the 1857 revolt, though the early 20th century book doesn't detail why. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
