1. PRESENTED BY ADITYA JAIN
Department of Engineering,
Registration NO. 21BCON257
Section - G
2.
3. • Rani Lakshmibai was born on 19 November
1828 in the town of Varanasi into
a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family.
• She was named Manikarnika Tambe . Her father
was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi
Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai). Her mother died when she
was four years old. Her father was the Commander
of the war of Kalyanpranth.
• The Peshwa called her "Chhabili", which means
"playful". She was educated at home and was
taught to read and write
4. Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Gangadhar
Rao Newalkar , in May 1842 and was afterwards called
Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai) in honour of the Hindu
goddess Lakshmi and according to the Maharashtrian tradition
of women being given a new name after marriage.
In September 1851, she gave birth to a boy, later named
Damodar Rao, who died four months after birth. 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.
After the death of the Maharaja in November 1853, because
Damodar Rao (born Anand Rao) was an adopted son, 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. When she
was informed of this she cried out "Main apni Jhansi nahi
doongi" (I shall not surrender my Jhansi). In March 1854, Rani
Lakshmibai was given an annual pension of Rs. 60,000 and
ordered to leave the palace and the fort.
5. On 10 May 1857, the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut .
In June 1857, rebels of the 12th Bengal Native Infantry seized the Star Fort of Jhansi, containing the treasure
and magazine and after persuading the British to lay down their arms by promising them no harm, broke
their word and massacred 40 to 60 European officers of the garrison along with their wives and children.
Four days after the massacre the sepoys left Jhansi, having obtained a large sum of money from the Rani.
From August 1857 to January 1858 Jhansi under the Rani's rule was at peace.
She defended Jhansi against British troops when Sir Hugh Rose besieged Jhansi on 23 March 1858.
According to tradition with Damodar Rao on her back she jumped on her horse Badal from the fort; they
survived but the horse died. The Rani escaped in the night with her son, surrounded by guards.
She decamped to Kalpi with a few guards, where she joined additional rebel forces, including Tatya
Tope. They occupied the town of Kalpi and prepared to defend it. On 22 May British forces attacked Kalpi;
the forces were commanded by the Rani herself and were again defeated.
The leaders Gwalior and joined the Indian forces who now held the city. The rebels proclaimed Nana
Sahib as Peshwa of a revived Maratha dominion with Rao Sahib as his governor (subedar) in Gwalior. The
Rani was unsuccessful in trying to persuade the other rebel leaders to prepare to defend Gwalior against a
British attack which she expected would come soon. General Rose's forces took Morar on 16 June and then
made a successful attack on the city.
6. On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai near the Phool Bagh of Gwalior, a
squadron under Captain Heneage, fought the large Indian force
commanded by Rani Lakshmi bai, who was trying to leave the
area.
In this engagement, according to an eyewitness account, Rani
Lakshmi bai put on a sowar's uniform and attacked one of the
hussars; she was unhorsed and also wounded, probably by his
sabre. Shortly afterwards, as she sat bleeding by the roadside,
she recognised the soldier and fired at him with a pistol, where
upon he "dispatched the young lady with his
carbine". According to another tradition Rani Lakshmibai, the
Queen of Jhansi, dressed as a cavalry leader, was badly
wounded; not wishing the British to capture her body, she told
a hermit to burn it. After her death a few local people cremated
her body.
The British captured the city of Gwalior after three days.
7. The most famous composition about Rani Lakshmi Bai is the Hindi poem Jhansi ki
Rani written by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. A popular stanza from it reads:
बुंदेले हरबोलोुं क
े मुँह हमने सनी कहानी थी, खूब लडी मदाानी वह तो झाुँसी वाली रानी थी।।
For Marathi people there is an equally well-known ballad about the brave queen
penned at the spot near Gwalior where she died in battle, by B. R. Tambe . A couple
of stanzas run like this:
रे हहुंदबाुंधवा, थाुंब या स्थळीुं अश्र दोन ढाळीुं /
ती पराक्रमाची ज्योत मावळे इथे झाहिवाली / ... / घोड्यावर खुंद्या स्वार, हातात नुंहि तवाार / खणखणा
कररत ती वार / िोर्याुंची कोुंडी फोहडत पाहडत वीर इथे आली /
मदाानी झािीवाली!
8. Jhansi ki Rani novel by Vrindalal Verma.
La femme sacrée, in French, by Michel de Grèce. A novel based on the Rani of
Jhansi's life
Rani, a 2007 novel in English by Jaishree Misra.
Nightrunners of Bengal, a 1951 novel in English by John Masters.
Rebel Queen: A Novel by Michelle Moran "A Touchstone Book
Seeta: This mutiny novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1872 is showing the
admiration of Taylor for the Rani.
Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D’Arc of India: This novel written by
