![]() ![]() It is fortunate for us that the men (her men) are not at all like her," wrote Cornet Combe of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry.īut on June 17, the Rani was cornered at Kotah-ki Sarai. "She is a wonderful woman, very brave and determined. Although most of her men were killed in the many skirmishes, she managed to get away every time. ![]() If defeated and killed on the field of battle, we will surely earn eternal glory and salvation". In the words of Lord Krishna, we will, if we are victorious, enjoy the fruits of victory. Now determined to take on the British unreservedly, the Rani issued a proclamation saying: "We fight for independence. Overwhelmed, the Rani quit the city, and the invaders slaughtered 5,000 civilians in unprecedented revenge. ![]() ![]() An army under Sir Hugh Rose arrived at Jhansi in March 1958. She told the British about this, but the Governor General did not believe her and decided to teach her a lesson, which at that time meant death and annihilation. When the mutineers from outside Jhansi entered the town and massacred European civil and military officers, the Rani was appalled, but had no means to stop them. This had come as a shock to the Rani as she had been on good terms with the local British Political Agent Capt Alexander Skene thanks to the "force and charm of her personality and with her evident wish to remain on friendly terms with her British masters." HT Image Hibbert says that at first, the Rani was not interested in joining the rebels, even though Governor General Lord Dalhousie had refused to accept her adopted son as heir to the Jhansi throne and denied her claim to Jhansi as well. Quoting JH Sylvester's Recollections of the Campaign in Malwa and Central India (Bombay 1860), Hibbert says that the Rani was to acquire amongst British officers an "undeserved reputation for excessive lasciviousness." But in the opinion of Sir Robert Hamilton, Resident in Central India, she was a "civil, polite and clever young lady," who had all the qualities to be a good ruler. Christopher Hibbert in his Great Mutiny (Penguin, 1978) says that she was in her early thirties, but others put her age at 23 (born in 1835). There is some doubt about Lakshmi Bai's age at the time of the mutiny. What spoilt her was her voice(!)," Lang noted. "Her dress was plain white muslin, so fine in texture and drawn about her in such a way that the outline of her figure was plainly discernible – a remarkably fine figure she had. She was not fair though she was far from dark. According to him, the expression was very intelligent, the eyes were particularly fine, and the nose very delicately shaped. Even now it has many charms," Long, who knew her, said. "Her face must have been very handsome when she was younger. "She was a good looking woman, rather stout but not too stout," wrote John Lang in Wanderings in India (1859). Not pretty and pock marked with small pox, but beautiful eyes and figure," noted Lord Canning, India's first Viceroy, in his private papers. "She used to dress like a man (with a turban) and rode like one. She was a "man among mutineers," wrote Sir Hugh Rose, who led the British forces against her. And interestingly, many were in raptures over her personal charm and beauty. Her enemies on the battlefield and the political bigwigs of that time, openly acknowledged that she was a rare combination of bravery, intelligence and administrative ability. Few Indians may know that the British, who fought the plucky Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi during the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, also admired her greatly. ![]()
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