Rani of Jhansi

On 10 May 1857 the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut. When news of the fighting reached Jhansi, the Rani asked the British political officer, Captain Alexander Skene, for permission to raise a body of armed men for her own protection; Skene agreed to this.[22] The city was relatively calm in the midst of the regional unrest, but the Rani conducted a Haldi Kumkum ceremony with pomp in front of all the women of Jhansi to provide assurance to her subjects, in the summer of 1857 and to convince them that the British were cowards and not to be afraid of them.[23][24]

The Rani of Jhansi smoking a hookah

Until this point, Lakshmibai was reluctant to rebel against the British. In June 1857, rebels of the 12th Bengal Native Infantry seized the Star Fort of Jhansi containing the treasure and magazine,[25] 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. The Rani's involvement in this massacre is still a subject of debate.[26][27] An army doctor, Thomas Lowe, wrote after the rebellion characterising her as the "Jezebel of India ... the young rani upon whose head rested the blood of the slain".[28]

The Rani of Jhansi's seal

Four days after the massacre the sepoys left Jhansi, having obtained a large sum of money from the Rani, and having threatened to blow up the palace where she lived. Following this, as the only source of authority in the city the Rani felt obliged to assume the administration and wrote to Major Erskine, commissioner of the Saugor division explaining the events which had led her to do so.[29] On 2 July, Erskine wrote in reply, requesting her to "manage the District for the British Government" until the arrival of a British Superintendent.[30] The Rani's forces defeated an attempt by the mutineers to assert the claim to the throne of a rival prince Sadashiv Rao (nephew of Maharaja Gangadhar Rao) who was captured and imprisoned.

There was then an invasion of Jhansi by the forces of Company allies Orchha and Datia; their intention however was to divide Jhansi between themselves. The Rani appealed to the British for aid but it was now believed by the governor-general that she was responsible for the massacre and no reply was received. She set up a foundry to cast cannon to be used on the walls of the fort and assembled forces including some from former feudatories of Jhansi and elements of the mutineers which were able to defeat the invaders in August 1857. Her intention at this time was still to hold Jhansi on behalf of the British.[31]

The storming of Jhansi - Lieutenant Bonus

Jhansi Fort, 1882

From August 1857 to January 1858 Jhansi under the Rani's rule was at peace. The British had announced that troops would be sent there to maintain control but the fact that none arrived strengthened the position of a party of her advisers who wanted independence from British rule. When the British forces finally arrived in March they found it well-defended and the fort had heavy guns which could fire over the town and nearby countryside. According to one source [32]Hugh Rose, commanding the British forces, demanded the surrender of the city; if this was refused it would be destroyed. The same source[33] claims that after due deliberation the Rani issued a proclamation: "We fight for independence. In the words of Lord Krishna, we will if we are victorious, enjoy the fruits of victory, if defeated and killed on the field of battle, we shall surely earn eternal glory and salvation." Other sources, for example,[34] have no mention of a demand for surrender. She defended Jhansi against British troops when Sir Hugh Rose besieged Jhansi on 23 March 1858.

The bombardment of Jhansi began on 24 March but was met by heavy return fire and the damaged defences were repaired. The defenders sent appeals for help to Tatya Tope;[30] an army of more than 20,000, headed by Tatya Tope, was sent to relieve Jhansi but they failed to do so when they fought the British on 31 March. During the battle with Tatya Tope's forces part of the British forces continued the siege and by 2 April it was decided to launch an assault by a breach in the walls. Four columns assaulted the defences at different points and those attempting to scale the walls came under heavy fire. Two other columns had already entered the city and were approaching the palace together. Determined resistance was encountered in every street and in every room of the palace. Street fighting continued into the following day and no quarter was given, even to women and children. "No maudlin clemency was to mark the fall of the city" wrote Thomas Lowe.[35] The Rani withdrew from the palace to the fort and after taking counsel decided that since resistance in the city was useless she must leave and join either Tatya Tope or Rao Sahib (Nana Sahib's nephew).[36]

The place from where Rani Lakshmibai jumped on her horse.[37]

According to tradition with Damodar Rao on her back she jumped on her horse Badal from the fort; they survived but the horse died.[38] The Rani escaped in the night with her son, surrounded by guards.[39] The escort included the warriors Khuda Bakhsh Basharat Ali (commandant), Gulam Gaus Khan, Dost Khan, Lala Bhau Bakshi, Moti Bai, Sunder-Mundar, Kashi Bai, Deewan Raghunath Singh and Deewan Jawahar Singh. She decamped to Kalpi with a few guards, where she joined additional rebel forces, including Tatya Tope.[36] 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 (the Rani of Jhansi, Tatya Tope, the Nawab of Banda, and Rao Sahib) fled once more. They came to Gwalior and joined the Indian forces who now held the city (Maharaja Scindia having fled to Agra from the battlefield at Morar). They moved on to Gwalior intending to occupy the strategic Gwalior Fort and the rebel forces occupied the city without opposition. 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.[40]

On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai near the Phool Bagh of Gwalior, a squadron of the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars, under Captain Heneage, fought the large Indian force commanded by Rani Lakshmibai, who was trying to leave the area. The 8th Hussars charged into the Indian force, slaughtering 5,000 Indian soldiers, including any Indian "over the age of 16".[41] They took two guns and continued the charge right through the Phool Bagh encampment. In this engagement, according to an eyewitness account, Rani Lakshmibai 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, whereupon he "dispatched the young lady with his carbine".[42][43] 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. In the British report of this battle, Hugh Rose commented that Rani Lakshmibai is "personable, clever and beautiful" and she is "the most dangerous of all Indian leaders".[44][45] Rose reported that she had been buried "with great ceremony under a tamarind tree under the Rock of Gwalior, where I saw her bones and ashes".[46][47]

Her tomb is in the Phool Bagh area of Gwalior. Twenty years after her death Colonel Malleson wrote in the History of the Indian Mutiny; vol. 3; London, 1878-

Whatever her faults in British eyes may have been, her countrymen will ever remember that she was driven by ill-treatment into rebellion, and that she lived and died for her country, We cannot forget her contribution for India.'[48]

— Colonel Malleson

According to a memoir purporting to be by 'Damodar Rao', the young prince 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 of Jhansi surrendered himself to a British official and his memoir ends in May 1860. He was then allowed a pension of Rs. 10,000, seven retainers, and was in the guardianship of Munshi Dharmanarayan. The whole memoir was published in Marathi in Kelkar, Y. N. (1959) Itihasachyaaa 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 that what actually happened to him remains unknown.

A number of patriotic songs have been written about the Rani. The most famous composition about Rani Lakshmi Bai is the Hindi poem Jhansi ki Rani written by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. An emotionally charged description of the life of Rani Lakshmibai, it is often taught in schools in India.[50] A popular stanza from it reads:

बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।[51]

Translation: "From the bards of Bundela we have heard this story / She fought valiantly like a man, she was the queen of Jhansi."

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, who was a poet laureate of Maharashtra and of her clan. A couple of stanzas run like this:

रे हिंदबांधवा, थांब या स्थळीं अश्रु दोन ढाळीं /

ती पराक्रमाची ज्योत मावळे इथे झाशिवाली / ... / घोड्यावर खंद्या स्वार, हातात नंगि तर्वार / खणखणा करित ती वार / गोर्‍यांची कोंडी फोडित पाडित वीर इथे आली /

मर्दानी झाशीवाली!

Translation: "You, denizen of this land, pause here and shed a tear or two / For this is where the flame of the valorous lady of Jhansi was extinguished / … / Astride a stalwart stallion / With a naked sword in hand / She burst open the British siege / And came to rest here, the brave lady of Jhansi!"

• Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser, a historical fiction novel about the Indian Revolt describing several meetings between Flashman and the Rani.
• La femme sacrée, in French, by Michel de Grèce. A novel based on the Rani of Jhansi's life in which the author imagines an affair between the Rani and an English lawyer. Pocket, 1988, ISBN 978-2-266-02361-0
• La Reine des cipayes, in French, by Catherine Clément, Paris: Seuil, 2012, ISBN 978-2-021-02651-1
• Rani, a 2007 novel in English by Jaishree Misra.
• Nightrunners of Bengal, a 1951 novel in English by John Masters.
• Manu (ISBN 072788073X) and Queen of Glory (ISBN 0727881213), (2011 & 2012) by Christopher Nicole, two novels about Lakshmibai from the time of her marriage until her death during the 'Indian Revolt' as seen and experienced by an English woman companion.
• Rebel Queen: A Novel by Michelle Moran "A Touchstone Book" New York: Simon and Schuster, March 2015 (ISBN 978-1476716367)
• Seeta: This mutiny novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1872 is showing the admiration of Taylor for the Rani.[52]
• Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D’Arc of India: This novel written by Michael White in 1901 depicts the Rani in a romanticised way.[52]
• The Rane: A legend of the Indian Mutiny: In this novel written by Gillean, a British military officer, in 1887 the Rani is shown as an unscrupulous and cruel woman.[52]
• The Queen's Desire: This novel written by Hume Nisbet in 1893 focuses on the Rani's sexuality. However, she does not want to use her sexuality to manipulate the British, but she cannot resist a British officer and consequently falls in love with him.[52]

• The Tiger and the Flame (1953), directed and produced by Sohrab Modi
• Jhansi Ki Rani, a television series aired on Doordarshan starring Varsha Usgaonkar as Rani Laxmibai.
• Jhansi Ki Rani (2009), a television series aired on Zee TV starring Kratika Sengar as Rani Lakshmibai and Ulka Gupta as young Rani Lakshmibai
• The Rebel, a film by Ketan Mehta, a companion piece to his film Mangal Pandey: The Rising
• The Warrior Queen of Jhansi (2019), a British film starring Devika Bhise as Rani Lakshmibai.
• Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019), a Hindi film starring Kangana Ranaut as Rani Lakshmibai.
• Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019), a Telugu language film starring Anushka Shetty as Rani Lakshmi Bai.
• Khoob Ladi Mardaani...Jhansi Ki Rani (2019), a television series airing on Colors TV starring Anushka Sen as Rani Lakshmibai.

• The Order: 1886, a single-player third-person shooter video game features a fictional version of Rani Lakshmi Bai. In the game, she is the rebel leader fighting the United India Company plotting to rule the world with unethical force.
• Fate/Grand Order, a mobile turn based RPG based on the popular Fate franchise, Lakshmibai appears as a playable "Servant" in the "Saber" class. Her design is based on that of "Fate" Jeanne D'Arc, in reference to the 1901 novel Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D’Arc of India by Michael White which described her as "The Jeanne D'Arc of India".

• The Queen of Jhansi, by Mahasweta Devi (translated by Sagaree and Mandira Sengupta). This book is a reconstruction of the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai from extensive research of both historical documents (collected mostly by G. C. Tambe, grandson of the Queen) and folk tales, poetry and oral tradition; the original in Bengali was published in 1956; the English translation by Seagull Books, Calcutta, 2000, ISBN 8170461758.
• The Rebellious Rani, 1966; by Sir John George Smyth, 1st Baronet.
• "The Rani of Jhansi: Gender, History, and Fable in India," by Harleen Singh (Cambridge University Press, 2014. The book is a study of the many representations of Rani Lakshmibai in British novels, Hindi novels, poetry, and film.

• Vishnu Bhatt Godse.Maza Pravas: 1857 cya Bandaci Hakikat (Marathi "My journey: the truth about the 1857 rebellion")
• Meyer, Karl E. & Brysac, Shareen Blair. Tournament of Shadows Washington D.C.: Counterpoint, 1999; pp. 138–45.
• Verma, Janki Sharan Amar Balidani
• Zila Vikas Pustika, 1996–97, Jhansi