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[history] SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN, IT'S TIME TO LEARN ABOUT RANI LAKSHMIBAI AND THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE WAR OF 1857! Aka my long time love. But there are people apparently that escaped my love of her so it's time to talk about her at length. So get ready for a Boss Ass Bitch.
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Cracks knuckles.
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To begin with this: if you do not already know, the British Empire and its interests as expressed through the East India Trading Company are fucking abhorrent. It's crimes literally cannot be counted or even properly made recompense for. Because on top of horrific singular acts of barbarism, the widespread oppresion and greed that culminated in events like
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the Bengali Famine of 1770, or later, fucking Partition in 1947? Is not something that can be quantified simply.
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But there were of course people who fought this, and one of those people is Rani Lakshmibai, the Queen of a small princely state of Jhansi.
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She was born in Kashi, to Moropant Tambe, and was Brahmin Caste, which meant she was the highest caste, but also that her family was very poor ( I am not Indian and the Caste system is very complicated at the best of times, no less to someone not raised in it so please rely on the voices from the country to help it explain it better than I can!)
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What this meant in practise, was her father was left raising her and her father was a servant to the Peshwa of the Maratha State. ( For those that are familiar with Bajirao, her father served Bajirao II, so yeah, THAT family )
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Though by this time, the maratha state was largely diminished, and in turn, her father was well respected but a pretty poor man in his own regard, he was essentially what amounted to a real estate broker and worked hard most of the time.
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He had no CLUE how to raise a daughter. Not one. So he raised her like a son, and she was raised from an early age to being a soldier like her family had been since the time of Bajirao.
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She learned how to shoot a bow, ride a horse, fight with swords, on horse back, cavalry formations, and to read and write, in time she even became friends with Bajirao II himself who regarded her like a niece and gave her a nickname
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there is one famous story that says when she 10 she was told she wasn't allowed to ride with the Princes on their elephant because she was the daughter of a poor man, and she told her father "it is my destiny to have ten elephants"
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it's probably made up but we do know that she was a very willful child even at that age from the rest of the accounts of her family.
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Meanwhile, the family of Gangadhar Rao in the state of Jhansi had just lost his first wife, and he was now heading towards 40 and the state SORELY needed a heir, because a LARGE AMOUNT of Gangadhar Rao's family had contracted leporasy and other parts of it had near bankrupted the state from in fighting.
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( his mother was a piece of work let me tell you, and she hated her own son it was WEIRD anyway )
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At this time, Lakshmi is now 12, and this is the age that traditional Brahmin Girls get married so her father starts getting ready for it, meanwhile, Gangadhar Rao sends an emmisary to Bajirao II to ask about girls that are acceptable.
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One of which is Lakshmi ( who at this time is called Manikarnika ) and she passes a round of testing and it is agreed, she's going to become the new Queen of Jhansi. She rides to Jhansi with her father, and does just that, at 12 years of age.
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In case you're screaming at the child marriage, it wasn't sex, it was as most political marriages were in the past, this was the face of it, and then the young bride is shoved into the household to learn how to do her position behind closed doors.
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It was at this point, she took the name Lakshmi as her name as a wife and queen, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, she promised to be Lakshmi to her people.
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( Lakshmi is the goddess of prospertiy )
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The uh, formal part of their relationship did not start until she was 17 - and Lakshmi and Ganghadar doted on each other. He could refuse her nothing and she did everything for him to be an appreciative wife.
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He was a great patron of the arts, and he had made Jhansi which essentially just started as a fortress town into a bustling town that was a Home for the Arts, music, plays, artistic endeavours all went on - so much so that when their son was finally born, their was feasting for two weeks, he gave feasts for the rich AND poor for two weeks straight.
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At this point, England was very hands off about running Jhansi, Gangadhar was considered a very able administrator in his own right, and even though his state was deep in debt to England to the tune of about $50,000, over the course of his life he paid off $30,000
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In this time period at the famous parade, Lakshmi demanded both India and English soldiers to march in parade, the British regiment refused to initially, because it was a sunday, and she said bullshit, because they waged war several times on a sunday in the history of India, and showed up the commander so badly he had to agree.
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But, then everything went suddenly and immediately went horribly wrong.
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And cw from here on out, this gets ugly af.
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At four months old, Lakshmi's son died. Suddenly in a week, no less.
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Her husband who was now 50, was emotionally destroyed. He could not handle it anymore. His whole body just caved inwards on him, he took a fever that he never recovered from, and it became clear to everyone, that he was going to die sooner rather than later.
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So they rushed to do what they could to try and secure Jhansi to Lakshmi's rulership ( he supported her real hard as Queen ).
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He adopted a second son, who was four years old at the time.
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He was Gangadhar's Grand-Nephew. ( for irony, this is the way that Queen Victoria herself was given the throne, she was a niece to the king lmao )
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They signed and officiated it, and the next day Gangadhar died. It was Lakshmi's 19th birthday.
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She spent the night cradling her husband as he, at last, passed away.
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Just in case you think your teenager years were a fucking mess I guess.
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But the next day, she got up, she pushed away the traditional widows robes (a big deal), picked up her adopted son and went to take position as the sole ruler of Jhansi.
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She did this for half a year or so? Before a letter came from the Govenor General, despite having being cleared beforehand, and having two british generals witnessing the adoption, he refused to ratify it, and that Jhansi now fell back into English hands.
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It was not for no reason, there was a law that said that any state in India that did not have a clear line of succession, went to England. By declaring the adoption valid it meant no Indian could get in control of the state again. Something they sorely wanted because Jhansi was an important town between two huge fortresses.
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And if that sounds like TOTAL BULLSHIT, YEAH, THATS WHAT LAKSHMI THOUGHT TOO.
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Famously, when this was read to her, she said "I will not give up my Jhansi."
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But still, she didn't want a war, so she was forced to pack up and be sent away to a lesser palace.
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They took all the money from her - which when I say India was fuedal at this period, I mean in the sense, she was a direct patron to nearly 10,000 people who expected her to feed and clothe as well as 2,000 temples in Jhansi and all of the priests that worked there as well as the charity events tied in with festivles to help support the poor
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all of that? her sole responsibility.
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But England took control of the state, and then when she asked to help you know, support the people of Jhansi, they basically told her it was a HER problem
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they then started doing some disrespectful things - like opening up a butchers shop. in the middle of the main street. that killed cows. you know. amongst the predominantly hindu population.
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At this time, however, they were one of many who were undergoing this treatment and this disregard, meanwhile, over in Kulkutta, something called the Sepoy rebellion is breaking out.
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It started because the new type of gun, the Enfield Rifle had paper cartridges to reload the gun, you had to rip the paper with your lips.
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The paper was being sealed in fat, cow and pig fat.
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To a mix of Hindu and Muslim soldiers.
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Instead of offering transparency if this was a lie, or trying to make amends, the english commanders told them to shut up and fall in line, which pardon the reference for this time period, but it was a flame to a powder keg.
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The hundred thousand grievances that had been building up until this point ( more than I can explain in one plurk ) exploded and in early 1856, it boiled over into out and out uprising.
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It started in Kulkutta, and proceed to escalate quickly. Sepoys killed any group of english people they could get their hands on, whether they were other soldiers or women and children. the english furthered their violence in retaliation.
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It spread from East India, across the rest of India just as quickly, which in the middle of that pathway........ is Jhansi.
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At this point, Lakshmi has been living in a diminished state, and Lakshmi is now about 25, and she has spent the last five years, sending lawyer after lawyer to England, to petition british courts to at first give her throne back.
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When they denied her, she tried to write to have her adoptive sons inheritence given to him for a special occassion as Prince. They said she was not trustworthy with her sons money and she was not allowed it.
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Then the last straw was remember that $50,000 debt, that her husband paid off most of?
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After taking the entire state off of her, and the debt had been incurred in restoring Jhansi, not on the personal family of the crown, they said she had to continue to pay off her husbands debt when she was only on a stipend of $5000 a year.
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She did everything possible to try and find a non-violent solution, and became aware.... that they were deliberately ignoring her letters, if not lying.
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TURNS OUT, HER LETTER WRITER IN ENGLISH, WAS ACTUALLY A SPY.......... BUT YOU KNOW, LATER ON...
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So eventually, the Sepoys reached Jhansi, and they besieged the Fort where the English families were ruling from, and then when the English attempted to surrender, surged inside, and killed everyone, including the children. No one was spared.
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HEre history is murky. The English commanders swear up and down, that she joined in with the killing, they even conducted a "trial" for her, with witnesses that said she did. those witnesses could not even agree on what DAY it happened, and one of them was proven to be in another city the entire month. so. yeah.
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but the Indian sources say she could not stop the Sepoys, and the best she could do was to pay them to leave after the slaughter was done.
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We DO now however she organised a full service to inturn the dead with as much respect as she could.
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She then wrote to the local high command about the fact that in the abscence of any leader she was stepping in, and he wrote back to her that she could stay until further notice and all leadership roles were transferred to her.
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however meanwhile the Governor General wrote back to the same commander that he considered all of it Lakshmi's fault and she was 100% to blame and had to be thrown out of power and stripped of all position.
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This dude in the middle continued to act like it was fine, but Lakshmi eventually realised from the rumours that were now circling, that no matter what happened, she and England were firmly on opposite sides now, and war was inevitable.
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So she, like a boss ass bitch, got ready for war.
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This leads us to the Independance War of 1857 and where her legend is firmly forged, and also some horrible suffering and her bravery in the face of it.
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Now that she had decided fuck England entirely, she went about strengthening her position in truth, expanding her army and doubling the defences to get Jhansi into a better position.
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She employed male AND female soliders, famously she had an entire squad of female soldiers who she trained to guard her, these were called the Durga Dal.
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Very soon, word came that she was getting ready to fight, and she was joined with other Maratha Princes, and in turn with other people just wanting to fight England to get them to fuck off.
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3,000 Afghan soldiers joined her, personally, because they were just DYING to punch England in the face some more, people from surrounding villiages all poured in.
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And then after all that, England Arrived, and the siege of Jhansi began.
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It went for a full week, and they worked hard against it, even though they were seriously outnumbered, any army of about 6,000 to an army of 15,000 or so.
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Eventually however, despite holding out so long, tragically, she was betrayed from within, and the gates were let open. It was a massacre inside of the walls because they were under strict orders to spare no one.
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So they didn't.
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This is where the most famous of Lakshmi's female guards happen. A woman called Jhalkaribai who supposedly looked very much like the queen and especially to a bunch of racist white boys, dressed up as Lakshmi so the Queen herself to escape.
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She found on the front lines, leading the forward line from the main gate, until they captured her
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When the British realised they had the wrong woman, they asked her what they should do with her.
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Jhalkari said kill me, because I am glad to give my life for Rani Lakshmibai.
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This scared the British senseless, because they thought they were just dealing with a petty complaint.
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They did not realise the sheer devotion and patriotism in people that Lakshmi inspired.
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Because she was hard working, she was on the front lines every day, and in teh escape, she rode out with a thousand men from the castle with her own son strapped to her back, fighting to escape, even though Jhansi was lost.
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That last night of the siege of Jhansi, 5,000 men, women and children died, and the city burned for six days.
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But Lakshmi did not give up, she rode to the other Maratha Princes - who were the famous sons she grew up around, way back when, who knew of her strength. She pleaded her case to them, of how she had been wronged, and to give her an army. She moved everyone there and the prince gladly did.
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She trained them nonstop until the battle of Kalpi, where to sum up a complicated series of events, everyone around her bitched out from the fighting, but even then her formation, training and skills were so good, she lost barely anyone in the retreat. The same thing happened again in another battle, and she began to realise how much they were losing ground.
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Which is when she got her most insane idea - she was going to take the largest fortress in Central India, Gwalior.
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And if England did not know the sheer potency of her reptuation, integrity and the sway she had in her countrymen's hearts, they were fucking about to
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Lakshmi marched up to the walls of Gwalior with only a few thousand men, onto the battle field in front of it, where she was largely outnumbered, and challenged every man there present.
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She stood of Hindustan. She stood for the people. She fought for them. She had been personally wronged by the british and though she had been a good woman who sort peace they treated her like this?
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The army folded under the commanders in seconds, they cheered and rushed her, and opened teh gates of Gwalior, and she took the fortress without ever firing a shot.
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Unfortunately, this would be her first and last victory. People got too high off the victory, and her fellow commanders did not listen to her when she said they needed to prepare for battle.
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surprise, surprise, a woman let down by the men around her.
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But she did not let it stop her, when the Siege of Gwalior began, she was there, on the walls from the first day.
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It was on the second, the fighting had been vicious, and the field had turned into a bloody, slippery mess of bodies and smoke, or so says the account, and one of Lakshmi's vanguard ( a woman named Mani ) had fallen defending her, and she had blood all over her face, and she couldn't see to get out of the way, when the shot hit her
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famously above her heart.
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It did not kill her immediately, but in the haze and confusion, both sides lost track of her - and - we do not know what happened to Lakshmibai post this point. They think she crawled or rode away from the battle. because the only report we have afterwards, is that in a small village, she ended up, and as she was bleeding out, she instructed them to build
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her funeral pyre
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because she refused, REFUSED to ever let the British have her body.
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And to this day, we still do not know truthfully what happened to her body. The british swore up and down they found her and that she died, but everyone called bullshit on that one.
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She was 27. She died on the battlefield fighting for her country.
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And that was the life of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.
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Post her death, she has become considered the fighting heart of india rising up to stand against oppressors. In the poems and stories talking about her life and exploits she is invoked often as an aspect of Goddesses like Durga, who is the Goddess who slays Demons.
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And if you have made it through all of this, congratulations, you have now helped fight British retellings of colonial history, because after her death, such was the fervor she inspired in her people, and such was her affect on the British, they banned her name and suppressed her story throughout the entire British Empire
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However, it wasn't affective, she lived in the hearts and minds of her people, always, and so greatly was she wronged, that even England and its fucking horrendous greed, could no longer justify the East India Company, and after the War of 1857, the East India Company was finally dissolved.
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This begins the period known as the British Raj and India becoming a vassal state of England directly rather than under the control of a company.
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And this is the end of my ted talk.
Fat turkeys
Duuuuuuuude. This was COOL to read. Also are those gifs from an awesome about her life???
๊ฑสแดแดกแดษชแดแด!
thanks lily! 
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Fat turkeys
: THEY ARE this is from a movie based on her life called Manikarnika, which released 2019!
Fat turkeys
Me and my dad are gonna end up watching so many movies on Indian history now, I can already see it!
แดแดแดสแดษด ๐พ
i am gonna read all this when i has more brain but i'm excite
แดแดแดสแดษด ๐พ
i found two movies on amazon about this lady tho >o>
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IF ONE IS IN ENGLISH, DONT WATCH IT, ITS TERRIBLE........
แดแดแดสแดษด ๐พ
i guess i'll see i didn't really look into it
Artemis
this is so cool I have learned so much, thank you!
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I am glad to have helped teach people!! spread the word of rani lakshmibai she is a boss ass bitch who went through hell and yet refused to ever step back or give up