The colleges, schools, roads, statues and stations named after Rani Lakshmibai are testimony to the towering position she holds in the annals of Indian history. Even the all-women Rani of Jhansi regiment of the Indian National Army, founded in the 1940s, proudly bore her name. Her resistance against the British during the Revolt of 1857 and her death in battle on 18 June the following year have been lionised to near mythical proportions in textbooks and popular culture.
Her life and deeds were first immortalised on the silver screen in 1953, in Sohrab Modi’s Jhansi Ki Rani—India’s first technicolour film. Recently, there has been a proliferation of movies and TV shows based on her story. In 2019, a major Bollywood adaptation titled Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi was released with Kangana Ranaut playing the titular queen. This was followed by Swati Bhise’s British period drama, The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, and a series on Colors TV called Jhansi Ki Rani featuring Anushka Sen as the famed queen.
The character of Rani Lakshmibai made a guest appearance in the 2019 Telugu film Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, motivating her besieged troops with the story of Narasimha Reddy, who had revolted against Company rule in India in 1847.
Her flight from Jhansi, famously described as jumping from the fortress walls with her adopted son strapped to her back, onto her horse, has become a folk tale heard across India. However, with the deification of her bravery, other important aspects of her reign have been sidelined.
An unorthodox childhood
Born as Manikarnika Tambe, Lakshmibai did not come from royalty but grew up in the court of the exiled Maratha Peshwa in Varanasi. She was the only child of Moropant Tambe, an advisor to Chimaji Appa, the brother of the last Peshwa, and Bhagirathi. The exact date of her birth is disputed, but historians DV Tahmankar and Ira Mukhoty have inferred that she was around 15 years old when she married Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the fifth king of Jhansi, in 1942.
Growing up in the royal palace, she learned horse riding, sword fencing, and archery. She also acquired the ability to read and write, which were “unusual accomplishments for a girl of her time,” writes Mukhoty in her book Heroines: Powerful Indian Women of Myth & History. Her self-confidence, ability to hold herself in the company of men, and dislike for the restrictions of purdah can be traced back to her unconventional upbringing.
When she married Gangadhar Rao, her father moved with her to Jhansi, which was considered unusual at the time. He remained there until its fall.
Also read: Lakshmibai drank, was promiscuous, British historians wrote. Then Savarkar changed it all
The diplomat queen
The Newalkars of Jhansi were loyal to the British. In 1825, Maharaja Rama Chandra Rao Newalkar even requested to fly the Union Jack over Jhansi fort, according to Tahmankar’s book Ranee of Jhansi.
However, Gangadhar Rao had no children. On his deathbed, he adopted his five-year-old nephew Damodar Rao, and appointed Lakshmibai as his regent. As Tahmankar writes in his book, the adoption took place in front of the nobility and British representatives. Gangadhar Rao pleaded with the British to consider his “previous loyalty into account and show kindness to my son,” states Mukhoty in Heroines. But his dying request was ignored by Marquess Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India at the time, and Jhansi was annexed under the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’, which stated that the East India Company would annex any princely state if its ruler failed to produce a natural-born heir.
Undeterred by the annexation of Jhansi, Lakshmibai continued to appeal to the British administration until January 1856, urging them to recognise Damodar Rao as the rightful heir. However, her pleas were ignored.
But unrest was brewing among the sepoys serving in the East India Company army.
The warrior queen
On 5 June 1857, a company of the 12th Native Infantry revolted, occupied the Star Fort outside of Jhansi and released the prisoners, bringing the Revolt of 1857 to Jhansi’s doorstep. Scores of British men, women, and children were massacred after being persuaded by the rebel sepoys to surrender. The role of Lakshmibai in this massacre is contested.
Historian RC Majumdar, in his book Sepoy Mutiny and the Revolt of 1857, describes how Lakshmibai wrote to Commissioner of Jabalpur Major Walter Erskine on two occasions, on 12 and 14 June 1857, condemning the actions of the sepoys. In her letters, she highlighted how the sepoys extorted a large sum of money and threatened her. She urged Erskine to support Jhansi with force and funds to maintain order.
Erskine’s response to Lakshmibai on 2 July 1857 authorised her rule in Jhansi on behalf of the British and assured her that European troops would be sent shortly to restore order, Majumdar writes. Despite these assurances, the British later came to believe that the Rani was complicit in the massacre.
As the British laid siege to Jhansi in March 1858, Mukhoty describes how Rani Lakshmibai and her artillery resisted the British canons with “ferocious bravery”, impressing even General Hugh Rose, the commander of the British forces.
She goes on to describe how Lakshmibai would ride her horse on the ramparts of the fort walls, inspecting and encouraging her troops. The 14th Light Dragoons described her as a “perfect Amazon in bravery”. However, despite the warrior queen’s efforts, the walls of Jhansi were eventually breached, and on the night of 3 April 1858, Rani Lakshmibai and a few hundred soldiers rode out of Jhansi into the open countryside of Bundelkhand.
In his travelogue Majha Pravas (1907), Marathi priest-author Vishnubhat Godse writes that the Rani of Jhansi, “dressed as a Pathan male,” continued to fight the British despite losses at Koonch and Kalpi. Alongside Tatya Tope and Rao Sahib, she captured Gwalior fort. In response, the British sent their troops and attacked Gwalior. Leading a countercharge, Rani Lakshmibai was killed as the Mutiny came to an end.
According to Mukhoty, the regimental history of the 8th Hussars stated, “In her death, the rebels lost their bravest and best military leader.”
(Edited by Prashant)