Jhansi Ki Rani

Story of Laxmi Bai, (born Nov.19, 1835) the Queen of Jhansi is unparalleled in the history of India. She was only 18 years old when her husband Gangadhar Rao, the king of Jhansi died. As the first born child of Rani had died, the couple was childless. They adopted a child whom the English refused to accept as the legal heir to the throne of Jhansi. Instead the English offered her a pension of Rs. 60,000 per year and ordered her to leave the fort of Jhansi. Rani however refused and decided to fight for her rights. She raised a volunteer army where both men and women were recruited. In March 1858, English army laid siege to the fort of Jhansi and took Jhansi after fighting for two weeks. Rani escaped in guise of a man with few of her supporters, riding a horse with her son tied behind her back and a sword in her hand. She regrouped her forces in Kalpi, about 100 miles from Jhansi and advanced into Gwalior. Three weeks later on June 18, 1858 she was martyred by bullets of the English army in a combat battle. Super human courage, convictions and velour displayed by such a young girl in nineteenth century India to take up English army in armed combat and to give up her life fighting for her rights, became a source of inspiration for generations of Indians in their fight for independence - Rajiv K. Saxena