Rani Laxami Bai

EARLY LIFE

• Rani Lakshmibai was born on 19 November 1835 in the town of Varanasi into a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family.
• She was named Manikarnika Tambe and was nicknamed Manu. Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai). Her parents came from Maharashtra and was cousin of Nana Sahib.
• Her mother died when she was four years old. Her father worked for a court Peshwa of Bithoor district.
• The Peshwa called her “Chhabili”, which means “playful”. She was educated at home and was more independent in her childhood than others of her age; her studies included shooting, horsemanship, fencing and mallakhamba with her childhood friends Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope.
• Her horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Baadal; according to historians she rode Baadal when escaping from the fort in 1858.

 DOCTRINE OF LAPSE

• Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Newalkar and was afterwards called Lakshmibai.
• She gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, in 1851, who died after four months. The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao.
• After the death of the Maharaja in November 1853, because Damodar Rao (born Anand Rao) was an adopted son, the British East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao’s claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories.

REFUSAL AND ANNEXATION

• An agent of the East India Company was posted in the small kingdom to look after administrative matters.
• The 22-year-old queen refused to cede Jhansi to the British. Shortly after the beginning of the mutiny in 1857, which broke out in Meerut, Lakshmi Bai was proclaimed the regent of Jhansi, and she ruled on behalf of the minor heir.