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June 18, the day Laxmi Bai, queen of Jhansi died and an icon of rebellion was born
In the history of colonial India, one woman's courage became legend. As the British tightened their grip through the Doctrine of Lapse and the flames of the 1857 Mutiny erupted, Rani Lakshmi Bai emerged as a formidable leader, rallying her people against overwhelming odds. With Major General Hugh Rose's forces closing in, her daring escape from Jhansi's besieged fort set the stage for a final, fateful stand in Gwalior. This is the story of a warrior queen who declared, 'Meri Jhansi Nahi Doongi (I will not surrender my Jhansi).'advertisementMajor General Hugh Rose stared at Jhansi's towering walls, his Central India Field Force poised for a decisive attack. The air crackled with tension, dust swirling under the boots of 4,300 men - sepoys, cavalry, and artillery - arrayed against Rani Lakshmi Bai's defiant stronghold. Rose, born in Berlin to British parents and weathered by battles from Russia to Poona, surveyed the fort's cannons. From a distance, he glimpsed the silhouetted figure of the warrior queen behind the Lakshmi Bai wore her trademark Jodhpurs with a bodice. Two pistols rested in holsters from her hips. A diamond on the hilt of a dagger, dipped in poison, sparkled under the sun. On her head was a cap, covered with a silk scarf, giving it the shape and swirl of a
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 (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 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 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 - 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 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 the adoption ran into a law passed by 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 strategy was methodical: weaken the walls, then storm the city. By early April, after days of bombardment, breaches appeared in Jhansi's that Jhansi was about to fall, British troops launched a full-scale assault, scaling the walls under heavy 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 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 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 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 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 Rose's army was still pursuing them. The defining battle of the rebellion was 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 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 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 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 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 Reel
