Rani Lakshmibai

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Rani Lakshmibai bigraphy, stories - Maratha warrior queen

Rani Lakshmibai : biography

19 November 1828 – 18 June 1858

Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (19 November 1828 – 18 June 1858; (gives birth date of 19 Nov 1835)Meyer, Karl E. & Brysac, Shareen Blair (1999) Tournament of Shadows. Washington, DC: Counterpoint; p. 138–"The Rani of Jhansi … known to history as Lakshmi Bai, she was possibly only twelve in 1842 when she married the .. Rajah of Jhansi …"Though the day of the month is regarded as certain historians disagree about the year: among those suggested are 1827 and 1835. ) was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and for Indian nationalists a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.

Biography

Lakshmibai was born probably on 19 November 1828Meyer, Karl E. & Brysac, Shareen Blair (1999) Tournament of Shadows. Washington, DC: Counterpoint; p. 138–"The Rani of Jhansi … known to history as Lakshmi Bai, she was possibly only twelve in 1842 when she married the .. Rajah of Jhansi …"The 177th anniversary of the Rani’s birth according to the Hindu calendar was celebrated at Varanasi in November 2012: in the holy town of Varanasi into a Brahmin family. She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu. (gives date of birth as 19 Nov 1835) Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Bai. Her parents came from Maharashtra.; Zee TV 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.Later in his life Moropant Tambe was a senior member of the court of Jhansi under his daughter’s rule; he was executed as a rebel after the capture of the city. The Peshwa called her "Chhabili", which means "playful". She was educated at home. She was more independent in her childhood than others of her age; her studies included archery, horsemanship, and self-defence.

Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao, in 1842, and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai). She gave birth to a boy named Damodar Rao in 1851, but when he was four months old he died. The Raja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Rao’s cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before he died. The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter from the raja requesting that the child should be treated with kindness and that the government of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime. After the death of the raja 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.Edwardes, Michael (1975) Red Year. London: Sphere Books, pp. 113–14

Rani Lakshmibai was accustomed to ride on horseback accompanied by a small escort between the palace and the temple though sometimes she was carried by palanquin. Her horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Badal (see her escape from the fort during the siege, below). 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 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.The whole memoir was published in Marathi in Kelkar, Y. N. (1959) Itihasachya Sahali (“Voyages in History”). It is likely that this text is a written version based on tales of the prince’s life in oral circulation and what actually happened to him remains unknown.