Jhansi ki Rani- Story of Jhansi Fort and its Indomitable Rani

Jhansi is a small town based in Southern UP, in a region called Bundelkhand. Bundelkhand is a region comprising of mostly Madhya Pradesh and partly Uttar Pradesh and includes Chirgaon, Panna, Tikamgarh, Chitrakoot, Orai, Chatarpur and Khajuraho among other towns. Jhansi is situated between the Rivers Pahuj and Betwa. Since it is a major junction many trains run from Delhi to Jhansi or one can drive via Agra and Gwalior to Jhansi. It is about 415 km from Delhi and a doable drive. The Jhansi fort was built originally by the Bundela Rajput Chief Bir Singh Deo who ruled over Orchha in 1613. Bir Singh Deo s ancestors Rudra Pratap Singh moved the capital from Gharkundar to Orchha, a tiny hamlet situated in the banks of the river Betwa where Bir Singh Deo and his progeny Jujhar Singh, Indrajit etc built the 14 Chattris. In addition to the gorgeous chattris, the Raja Mahal and Jehangir Mahal and Chaturbhuj temple standing tall make Orchha a town steeped in history, a medieval ill preserved storehouse of astounding architecture left to fend for itself.

Later the Orchha state split to form Panna and Datia states. The Bundelas ruled from Kalinjar fort and when Sher Shah Suri attacked , the Bundelas held out and in a twist of fate Sher Shah Suri died in an inadvertent blast in 1545 during this seige of Kalinjar fort. Another interesting fact is that Chattrasal was a descendant of Bir Singh Deo whose daughter from his Persian concubine the famed Mastani married Peshwa Bajirao 1. The Mughals attacked Maharaj Chatrasal, in 1728. Peshwa Bajirao helped him defeat the Mughals for which the beholden Maharaj offered part of his estate to the Peshwa bringing it under the Marathas. The Marathas ruled it till 1854. After the then ruling Raghunath Rao died in 1838, Gangadhar Rao was accepted as the next King by the British. He ruled adeptly and at the age of 40 yrs married 13 year old Manikarnika Tambe who was renamed Laxmibai after her marriage. Manikarnika's mother had died when she was 4 yrs of age and her father Morepant Tambe was the high priest of Bithur. He brought her up to learn horse riding, fencing etc. As per Vishnu Bhatt Versaiker, who wrote a contemporary account of the 1857 Mutiny and whose uncle was the former high priest of Bithur before Moro Pant, Manikarnika was called Chabbili affectionately and was a fervent tomboy. Her father was desperate to marry her off and whilst the king was looking for a second wife from a suitable southern Brahmin family, despite the Kings fabled eccentricities, he married her to him. The King's eccentricities and quirky traits were spoken of in hushed tones, i.e. he was wont to dress as a woman in a sari for days . However, Moro Pant was keen for Manikarnikas quick mind and adroitness to receive a proper due place in society and he grasped the opportunity to marry her to the 30 years older King. The King, however, was a suspicious doubting Thomas and kept her under close surveillance. She was not allowed to mingle or be her former carefree nonchalant self.
Her father Moro Pant Tambe, meanwhile moved to Jhansi having struck lucky through the marriage of his daughter to the King and married again siring a son and a daughter. After the marriage,a son was born to Laxmibai but who died a few months old leaving them devastated. Under these circumstances, Gangadhar adopted Damodar Rao, a 4 yr old nephew a day before he died in 1853 at the age of 50. Damodar Rao was not accepted as the King by the British and " The Doctrine of Lapses" was applied. Jhansi was annexed by the British Governor General Lord Dalhousie in 1854. Rani Laxmibai was given an annual pension of Rs 6000 and asked to leave the Fort. She was allowed to live in the Town Palace. During her time in Jhansi after the Kings death(fortuitous for her since she regained some of her former streak) Laxmibai who had grown up learning horse riding and wielding weapons in Bithur in her childhood along with Nana Saheb and his brother Rao Sahib etc started to teach women horseriding and fighting skills. This eventually gave rise to the Durga Dal - a women s fighting force. Jhalkari Bai was one of the women and bore a startling resemblance to Laxmibai. She as per history may have impersonated as Laxmibai when the Rani escaped from the Fort to fool the British army.

After Jhansi's annexation, the Rani truculently refused to leave Jhansi and continued to stay in the palace, the Rani Mahal. The fort houses the Shiv and Ganesha temples and the Amod garden. The Rani, after her husbands death would exercise, horseride daily as the Manikarnika of old. She often wore a man's pants, a headdress with a fan like top. SO while her husband had at times dressed as a woman, Laxmibai, no longer repressed, wore a mans clothespin order to be seen as a ruler dauntless, capable of equal if not more fortitude than any man. She stopped wearing her nose-ring but wore gold bangles. She with the Prime Minister, Lakshman Rao dealt with cases and gave clear decisive verdicts. When dressed as a woman, she would wear a white Chanderi sari. Laxmibai was not actively looking for war .

The Famos Battle 1857, the mutiny broke out and Rani Laxmibai took charge of the fort and prepared to fight the British. The Resident of Lucknow, Gordon Sahib had already handed over the power to her as the Britishers feared for their life as the news of the mutiny spread like wildfire. When the mutiny broke out she sheltered around 70 Britishers . However, then it was decided to send them for safekeeping to Datia. Unfortunately , they were massacred by the rebel soldiers outside Jhansi in the Jhokem massacre. The British blamed her for it and anticipating their ire, she prepared for war and once it was decided , plunged into it wholeheartedly intrepidly leading from the front. In this battle, led on the British side by General Hughes Rose, Rani Laxmibai and her men fought tenaciously. The famous Kadak Bijli Cannon was used by Ghulam Ghaus Khan to good effect to defend the South gate but he died eventually on 4th June , 1858 defending Gwalior. Motibai, a former female performer ( dancer) also fought and she along with a horse Khuda baksh, lie buried in the Fort. She took turns in firing the Bhawani Shankar Cannon. Diwan Raghunath and Jawahar Singh were overall in charge and Bhau Bakshi, Colonel Jaam Khan all kept a steady barrage of cannonfire going. There were 51 cannons in all. The British troops though, succeeded in breaching the fort at long last. Tatya Tope sent 20,000 troops to relieve Jhansi on March 31st but despite fighting the British in April, 1858 , Tatya Tope s troops lost ignominiously. Tope defeated and morose retreated to Kalpi with his army. The fighting was now inside the Jhansi fort and hand to hand and Rani Laxmibai decided to leave to fight another day. Rani Laxmibai left the fort from the main gate on April 4th, 1958 with her adopted son and a small cortege including Ghulam Ghaus, but the spot from where she reportedly leapt from the fort's ramparts to escape on her horse Badal is depicted in the Fort as that makes for a much more dramatic story. She escaped to Kalpi where the British followed persistently and fought again. Jhalkari Bai is reported to have taken the Ranis position and fooled the British for a few days in Jhansi. Her father Moropant Tambe also known as Mama Sahib lost his way and reached Datia where he was captured and handed over by the Dewan to the British and hanged in Jhansi, a sad end to his intrepidness.

The indomitable spirit of Lakshmibai is retold in many folk stories and songs of Bundelkhand. In the words of Rahi Masoon Raza: Nagaha chup huye sab, a gayi bahar Rani Fauj thi ek sadaf, us mein gauhar Rani Matla-e-jahad pe hai gairat-e-Akhtar, Rani Azm-e-paikar mein mardo’n ke barabar Rani [Suddenly there was silence, here comes the Rani The army was the oyster, the pearl was the Rani In the battlefield, you could shame the stars, Rani In bravery and courage, equal to men is the Rani] The Rani and Tatya Tope lost in Kalpi on May 10th even though the British suffered heavily. Here too the Rani led from the front valiantly. Finally she reached Gwalior with Rao Sahib and Tatya Tope where the British arrived soon after. The rebels had named Nana Sahib their leader and Rao Sahib his deputy in Gwalior. The Maharaja of Gwalior, Scindia fought the Rani but had to flee to Agra and Rao Sahib and Rani Laxmibai took over the fort of Gwalior on 4th June. There were great celebrations despite the Rani's caution to Rao Sahib to go easy on the jubilations and instead to prepare for the British onslaught that was certain to come. On June 17th, she died fighting in Gwalior after the British attacked . She was dressed in a red jacket and white pyjamas and wore Scindia's pearl necklace. Tatya Tope and Rao Sahib left Gwalior as her death caused complete disarray in the troops. 2 days later the British took over Gwalior with Scindia in tow. She lies buried in Phool Bagh in Gwalior. You leave the Fort with Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's poem reverberating in your ears- "Bundele harbolon ke munh se suni hamne kahaani thi, khub ladi mardani woh toh Jhansi wali rani thi."

Jhansi has many statues of Laxmibai along with her 4 year old adopted son strapped to her back. The legend lives on. General Hugh Rose commented after the battle that that Rani Lakshmibai is "personable, clever and beautiful" and she is "the most dangerous of all Indian leaders".
After the heart wrenching story of the Valorous Rani, Other things to see here are the Chattri of Gangadhar Rao(built by Laxmibai) and the churches. Built by the British , the churches are a fine example of architecture. The dam over the Betwa around 40 minutes from Jhansi called Sukma Dukma is a beautiful spot but the proposed linking of the Betwa to the Ken river is set to submerge many acres and trees and may turn out to be another ecological disaster in the making. Generally in the area, people walk around with rifles strung on shoulders casually. Nearby one can visit Jehangir Palace, the 7 storey palace in Datia which has a story of the Raja Bir Singh Deo assisting Jehangir by killing Abu Fazl (Akbar's historian who wrote Akbarnama) before he finally became the Emperor. The palace was built for Jehangir's visit which eventually never happened and no royalty has ever lived here. Its architecture is a fine example of Indo Mughal architecture and was incorporated by Lutyens in his buildings - the North and South Block of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Orchha is of course a well known tourist and historical site with its beautiful palaces, temples and Chattris. The Peetambara Peer temple in Datia has religious significance for people from afar and is another to visit spot for the religiously inclined.