Special on Lakshmibai9th November : BirthDay of Rani Lakshmi Bai
"Jhansi is mine and I can’t surrender it." - Rani Lakshmi Bai
The name of Queen of Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai is counted in the leading brave women of the country.
When in the year 1943, Netaji Subhash had thought of forming a woman regiment in Azad
Hind Fauj in Singapore, then that regiment was named 'Rani Jhansi Regiment'. By chance, the
first commander of this regiment was also a lady whose name was Colonel Lakshmi Swaminathan.
"Rani
Lakshmibai
faced the diplomatic
conspiracies
of the
British very
bravely. "
“She gave a
befitted reply
to her enemies
and
always faced
the adverse
conditions
boldily. Rani
Lakshmi bai
was a brave
warrior of
unique
courage and
spirit."
If we see with a little sympathy we will find
that happiness was not in her luck. The
pleasure was merely of name and sufferings,
trouble and sorrows were unlimited
and gigantic. In such adverse circumstances.
how did she manage to earn such
name-fame, is a matter of surprise.
Her parents had named her 'Manikarnika'
and her nick name was 'Manubai'.
Her
father Moropant was a servant in the royal
court of Peshwa Baji Rao second. His wife
Bhgirathi Bai was a religious lady. Baji Rao
Second had no issue. Hence Britishers took
over their rule and fixed a pension for him.
Then Peshwa left the Pune and settled in
Bithur near Kanpur. At the same time,
Moropant left the royal court of Peshwa
and went to Varansi. There Bhagirathi Bai
gave birth to a girl on a November, 1835
who was named Manikarnika.
When
Manikarnika (Manu Bai) was four years old
her mother Bhagirathi Bai died untimely.
The world of Moropant got ruined. Now
the responsibility of upbringing of his
daughter came to his lonely shoulders.
Then he took his daughter with him and
again went to the shelter of Peshwa.
Peshwa had no child of his own. Hence he
adopted two children-one was Nana Saheb
Dundi Raj Pant and other was Rao Saheb.
But British Govt. Disapproved this adoption
method.
Moropant was entrusted the task of educating
these children. Since they all used to
live in the same haveli Manu bai become
'Dharam Behin' of Nana Saheb. Manu Bai's
education and initiation went on with Nana
Saheb and Rao Saheb. Normally the education
of girls used to be different from boys,
but there was no such facility. She used to
wear the dresses of boys. She learnt horse
riding and used of arms and weapons and
become expert in them. She was very beautiful.
Hence she was named 'Chabili'. She
was full of energy. She was full of sense of
humour and joy.
That period of fun and frolic and carefreeness
remained only till the age of 7 years.
Moropant become worried about her marriage.
In those days there was the
prevalance of child marriage. The family
and social status of bridegroom had so much importance that his age and health
was not taken care of. It was the hard
heartedness of Moropant that he married 13
year old Manu bai to the old king of Jhansi
Ganga Dhar Rao.
The wife of king Gangadhar Rao had died.
he had no issue of his own. As a result of it
he wanted to remarry. In such works, pundits-
purohits are proved very useful.
Rajpurohit of Jhansi, Tatya Dikshit once
had gone to Bithur. There Moropant
showed him the horoscope of her daughter
Manu Bai. After seeing horoscope and the
girl Tatya said that for Manu Bai there is a
chance (Yog) of becoming a queen in the
horoscope. A thought of marriage between
Gangadhar Rao and Manu Bai came to his
mind. God knows what was written in the
horoscope but Dikshit ji had firm belief that
neither Gangadhar Rao nor Moropant will
be able to turn down the proposal of marriage.
Some people say that at that time
Manu Bai was 13 years of age. But according
to some others, she was of 7 years of
age at the time of her marriage.
The only
important thing is that she was very young
at the time of her marriage.
Marriage took place in 1848 (or in 1842).
The hope of a child was minimal due to the
health of Ganga Dhar Rao. In the year
1857, Manu Bai (She was named Lakshmi
Bai in her in-laws after marriage) gave birth
to a son. But the child Anand Rao was very
weak. he managed to survive for three
months and after that due to fever he died.
It was dreadful shock for Lakshmi Bai and
Raja Saheb.
Gangadhar adopted Damodar
Rao as he was not hopeful of having another
child of his own. He wanted to make him
the successor of his kingdom. But British
Govt. did not approve adoption.
Gangadhar's state of health was already
very bad. His condition deteriorated due to
tensions and worries. Gandhar Rao died in
1853 leaving behind the dispute of adopted
son and kingdon of Jhansi.
“Rani Lakshmi Bai faced the diplomatic
conspiracies of Britishers very bravely.
“She gave a befitted reply to her enemies
and always faced the adverse conditions boldly. Rani Lakshmi Bai was a brave warrior
of unique of unique courage and spirit.”
After that Rani Lakshmi Bai had to face
such hardships and adversities that she got
no chance to prepare herself for them.
Inspite of being the wife of Peshwas, she
was not the member of royal family. By
marrying a king of old age, she had indeed
become a queen but the power was in the
hands of king and queen was nothing more
than a respectable servant. But after the
death of Ganga Dhar Rao, the royal power
came into her hands as she became Raj
Mata. Money and respect were also associated
with this power.
There were so many hardships. First, her
son died, then died her husband. Then
adopted son Damodar Rao’s succession
was disapproved by British Govt.
Maharajyapal Dalhousie had started this
malpractice. According to this practice if
any king or jagirdar dies childless, the succession
right of his property or estate will
not be transferred to the adopted child and
that state or jagir will be merged in British
empire. As a consolation nominal pension
will be given. In this manner, company has
seized many stated and jagirs as a result of
which there was widespread resentment.
Ultimately the country wide revolt of 1857
took place.
When this dispute with British was going
on, a relative of Gangadhar Rao, Sadashiv
Narain Rao declared himself the king of
Jhansi. Rani Lakshmi Bai immediately took
action and invaded the fort of Sadashiv Rao
and captured him. It brought lots of respect
and reputation to Rani.
Orcha Sardar Nathe Khan understimated
the power of helpless queen and attacked Jhansi with 10 thousand soldiers.
But
Lakshmibai gave him a befitted reply and
Nathe Khan suffered heavy loss and had to
return. Then he provoked the Britishers and
asked them to take action against her.
British Govt. issued the order to this effect
that the kingdom of Jhansi is being merged
in British empire. Queen refused to obey
this order of Maharajyapal and said,
“Jhansi is mine. I will not give it any cost.”
But following the principle of ‘might is
right’, the Britishers took over charge of
Jhansi forcibly. Company’s locks were put
on treasury. Queen Lakshmi Bai started living
like a prisoner in her own place.
She made correspondence with Governor
but it was of no use.
The British flag was
hoisted on the fort of Jhansi. Queen was
very helpless and waited for an appropriate
opportunity.
After sometime the revolt of 1857 took
place in which Nana Saheb, Rao Saheb,
Rani Lakshmi Bai, Tatya Tope etc. were
playing active role. On 14 June, 1857
regional armies (forces) revolted against
Britishers and attacked the fort. The fort
was handed over to Rani Lakshmi Bai.
The childhood education came to use of
Lakshmi Bai. She took over the power and
command of army. Those days there were
no differences between Hindus and
Muslims.
There were gunners like Gaus
Khan and Khuda Bakhsh in the force of
Queen who served her with heart and soul.
Britishers entrusted the task of again taking
possession of Jhansi Fort to the army chief
Huerose. British force was very powerful
and large in comparison to the Jhansi. Their
arms and weapons were also very good.
Inspite of that Bundel soldiers of Queen
give them a tough fight. Huerose was
forced to withdraw and faced heavy loss.
But the position of Queen was not sound and firm. The enemy force had surrounded
the fort.
Britishers had the facility to
arrange new army and war material whereas
Queen surrounded in the fort had no such
facility.
Huerose again attacked fort with army and
guns. The war continued for the whole day
and Britishers had the upper hand. On seeing
the weak position of the fort, Queen
went out of the fort through a secret gate
with her soldiers who were on horses. She
was in the male dress. Her adopted child
Damodar Rao was tied to her back.
Britishers had reached Gwalior and took
over the Gwalior Fort very easily. All the
patriots were very angry against British
those days. Queen got money and military
support in Gwalior. She found she can face
British Army quite well here.
After victory over Jhansi, the courage of British
army chief Huerose had increased.
He chased the
Queen and reached Gwalior. Here also he surrounded
the fort through his large army.
Fierce battle went on for two days. The
Queen was surrounded in the fort and her
military ration and arms and amunitions
had also remained less. Whereas British
force continuously received food stock.
Finding the situation against her, Queen
once again tried to break the circle of
British army. She also managed to come out
of it with some of her soldiers.
But British
soldiers chased them. Queen was on the
horse. There was a nullah (nala) in the way.
Horse was reluctant to cross the nala. It
refused to go forward. When Queen applied
the spur it opposed and tried to threw down
the Queen by lifting its front leg. Till that
time Britishers had reached there. At there
on the day of 18 June, 1857, Queen fought with the British army with her few soldiers.
Suddenly British soldiers coming from
behind, on horses fired bullets at Queen. A
bullet hit her. She fell down from the horse
and died a heroic death. Being a woman,
her performance of bravery and valiance
was unmatched and proudsome. Her fellow
soldiers took her to a hut and quickly
arranged weed and straw and wood and
performed her cremation.
They did not
want to let the Britishers touch the body of
their Queen. When the British army
reached there, there were only ash and
bones.
That was the day of 1857. Rani Lakshmi
Bai did not get victory in the war but inspite
of being a lady the manner in which she
fought the battle bravely, is unmatched not
only the Indian history but also in world
history.
Maharani Lakshmi Bai really was
‘Ranchandi.’ Listening the sound of her
sword the British soldiers used to run away
from the battle ground. She was a woman
but used to possess the dreadful roop of
Bhairavi in the battle field and used to kill
her enemies. She did not give up even after
getting hit by bullet.
Undoubtedly she was
the pride of women. Not only Indian but all
the women of the world are proud of her.
Lakshmi Bai was a brave lady. She was
expert in war activities. No such other
woman has been seen in this world. Some
people compare her to the brave girl of
France ‘John of Arc’ but Lakshmi Bai had
more capability of war and administration
than the ‘Arch’.
Rani Lakshmi Bai had to fight with
Britishers in adverse circumstances. Hence, even her enemies praise her.”
“Her bravery, her
expertise in war,
her administrative
excellence and
struggling power
had made her
personality
irrepressible
Facing the adverse
circumstances
Rani Lakshmibai
achieved huge
fame.”
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