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DI:Personality
Jhansi Lakshmi Bai
Withered Hope
After the celebrations were over, Gangadhar Rao wrote a letter to the Company. He gave
all the details about the adoption and requested the Company to recognize the adopted
son as the heir. He suggested that, till Damodar Rao came of age, Rani Lakhsmi Bai
should be recognized as his representative. The Maharaja reminded the Company of the
friendly relations between Jhansi and the Company. The letter was handed over by the
Maharaja to Major Ellis with a request to give it to Lord Dalhousie.3
The Maharaja shed tea5rs when handing over the letter. He was overcome by emotion and
his voice was choked. The sobs of the Maharani crying behind the curtain could be heard.
Gangadhar Rao told the Major: "Major Saheb, my Rani is a woman. But she is endowed
with many qualities which even the ablest men of the world should appreciate. " As he
was speaking, unknown to him, his eyes were filled with tears.
"Major Saheb, please see that on no account Jhansi becomes on orphan, " he said.
Within a few days, on 21st November 1853, Gangadhar Rao died. The inexperienced
18-years-old Lakhsmi Bai became a widow.
A Hindu woman that too, a young woman and a widow bound by the chains of custom; in
addition, the responsibility of a state with no protection; on one side, Dalhousie who
was waiting to annex the kingdom; on the other; Damodar Rao, an infant in her arms-this
was the plight of Lakhsmi Bai. Limitless, endless her problems and her sorrows!
Lakshmi Bai sent a number of petitions to Dalhousie for a decision on the Maharaja’s
representation. Three months passed, but there was no reply.
On one unfortunate day, in March 1854, Dollhouse’s order arrived.
It read: ‘The Company does not recognize the right of the late Maharaja Gangadhar Rao
adopt an heir. It has, therefore, been decided to merge Jhansi in the British provinces.
The Rani should vacate the fort and live in the palace situated in the city. She will be
paid a monthly pension of rupees five thousand.
The Rani could not believe it at first. She was taken aback for some time, and then
exclaimed: "No, impossible: I shall not surrender my Jhansi. "
It did not take her long to realize how difficult it was for the small state of Jhansi
to appose the British might and cleverness, when even the Peshwas had bowed before it.
The kings of Delhi also were on their knees before the British.
After the British took over the government from her, the Rani’s daily routine changed.
Every morning the hours from four to eight were set apart for bathing, worship,
meditation and prayer. From eight to eleven she would go out for a horse ride,
practise shooting with a gun, and practise swordsmanship and shooting with arrows,
with the reins hold in the teeth. Thereafter she would bathe again, feed the hungry,
give alms to the poor and then have food; then she rested for a while. After that she
would exercise lightly in the evening. Later she would go through some religious books
and hear religious sermons. Then she worshipped her chosen deity and had supper. All
things were done methodically, according to a strict time-table.
Preparations For An Explosion
People who dumbly suffer tyranny and injustice are like breathing corpses. It is moral
to bow to justice, immoral to bow to injustice.
Even the nut caught in the nutcracker leaps. Under severe pressure the cannon- ball
explodes. Even a mild animal gets ready to retaliate against cruelty, without thinking
of what may happen.
The king who lost their kingdoms because they had no sons, the members of their
families, their dependents, the disbanded army, the well-wishers of all these
people – all were seething with discontent.
Tatia Tope, Raghunath Simha, Jawahar Simha and such lovers of freedom were secretly
coming to meet Rani Lakshmi Bai. They used to give her details of the dissatisfaction
and discontent of the people.
Rani Lakshmi Bai had carefully studied the geography of her kingdom, the strategic
points and the formation of the Sikh army of Punjab in its fight with the British.
When the Rani went out on horseback she was attired like men; she wore a metallic
helmet and on top of it, a flowing turban, a protecting metallic plate bound close
to the chest, pyjamas and a sash over them. On both sides she carried pistols and
daggers. In addition she carried a sabre.
The Rani, who was conversant with the characteristic marks and the mettle of different
types of horses, liked most the Kathiawar horse of spotless white color.
The Rani had flowing hair and so it was difficult for her to wear the helmet and tie
the turban over it. In Maharashtra widows used to shave their heads. The Rani decided
to have her hair removed at Benares. In addition, she wanted to study the political
situation in that part of the country.
But the British officials did no permit her journey.
The Rani took an oath: " I will remove my hair only after the country gains freedom;
otherwise it can take place only in the cemetery. "
The dissatisfied Nana saheb and Rao Saheb, Bahadu Shah, the King of Delhi, and the
well-wishers of the Nawab of Oudh were all anxious to meet. The same thought came
to the Rani also.
A religious celebration was the occasion when all the leaders could meet.
The explosion
Using Song and fairs and entertainment, the women also engaged in fanning
dissatisfaction in the army camps. The Rani was kept informed of all that happened.
The full moon day of Holi Feast had passed. It was a pitch dark right in February.
Tatia Tope came to meet the Rani.
Tatia brought with him a handbill. It read: ‘it is impossible to suffer any more.
How long can we bear the agony of the danger pierced through the hear? Arise and
get ready to sacrifice your life for justice. Some tyrants have kept this country
in subjection, drive them away. Free the country; uphold the right. ’
The Rani felt that the time was not yet ripe. Tatia said that there was extreme
dissatisfaction in the army, that it was not difficult to get the money needed and
that arms and ammunition were ready.
It was decided that throughout the country people should rise in revolt on Sunday
the 31st of May.
The lotus is the emblem of the greatness of Saraswathi, the Goddess of Learning, and
Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. This lotus was chosen as the symbol of the revolution.
The cake also became a sign of the revolution. The way to spread the message of
revolution was this: the cake sent from one town would be accepted and in its place
another sent to the next town.
In Barrackpur, trouble broke even before the appointed day. On 10th May the spark of
revolt flared up in Meerut. The Indian army in Meerut and Delhi joined and established
their authority over the throne of Delhi. The dethroned Bahadur Shah was proclaimed as
the Emperor of India.
'Sepoy Mutiny'
In the histories written by the British rulers the flood of the people’s wrath was
descried – to suit them – as the ‘Sepoy Munity’. This gives the impression that only
soldiers took part in the uprising and no others.
It is true the solders took a leading part in this people’s war. But they were not the
only the rajas, maharajas, chieftains, peshwas, nawabs and the Emperors of Delhi but
also Hindus, Muslims, moulvis and puroshits (that is, the priests) joined the revolt.
Most important role. The blood bath went on for eighteen to twenty months.
It is true that, as history has described, we were defeated. It is no shame for a
country in subjection to be defeated any number of times in its fight for freedom.
The struggle itself is the mark of living people. That itself is glory.
India is a vast country. The British found a fertile land for their trade. They could
freely buy raw materials here and sell the finished product here at four times its
price and fill their coffers. The disunity among the Indians was the secret of the
East India Company’s success.
In 1752, when the Mughul emperor’s permission to trade was saught on bended knees by
the British, the Company had three godowns. The total areas of land in their possession
was only twenty square miles. One hundred years later, the area of land ruled by them
was six and a half lakh square miles.
It was not enough for the Company that the country’s political and economic life came
under its control; the Company wanted India to accept it religion, too. It strengthened
its efforts to spread Christianity. Thus, there were several causes for the people’s
agitation.
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