Rani Of Jhansi

She ruled over a small kingdom, but dreamt of freedom for the whole country. In the great revolt of 1857, Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, matched wits and force with the best of British generals. The image of the brave Rani of Jhansi charging her steed through enemy lines, her sword raised for the next thrust, is forever imprinted in Indian hearts.

"Contributes to an understanding of the various agendas that are at stake in the use of the Rani of Jhansi as a figure of nationalist Indian history and imperial British narrative"--

RANI LAXMIBAI was a capable ruler, an intelligent communicator, and defender of the faith. She was sagacious when it came to her people and astute in dealing with her enemies. The widowed Queen had to repeatedly face gruelling challenges but drew strength from adversity, relying on her sense of justice, her dignity, and her magnanimity. She never surrendered to destiny, choosing instead to shape her own life. The British annexed Rani Laxmibai's kingdom, took away her political rights, and humiliated her. But she valiantly fought the foreign power and died a hero. Written after extensive research, this book portrays the making of a remarkable queen. Rani Laxmibai, the brave warrior-queen, remains a source of inspiration to us all.

"There are certain laws in every language made binding by custom, which cannot be transgressed without exposing the offender to the severe penalty of ridicule and contempt. These laws form the basis of grammar, and must be thoroughly learned. If a man has been under the influence of good models from childhood, correctness will be a matter almost of instinct; but the reverse of this is frequently the case. Even then there is but little difficulty experienced by any one who will take the necessary pains, in learning to write in accordance with the rules of speech, and when this power has been attained there is a standard formed by which to judge our spoken words. But it is not enough for the extempore speaker to be able to reduce his sentences to correctness by recasting, pruning, or adding to them. They should be required to present themselves at first in correct form and in rounded completeness. He has no time to think of right or wrong constructions, and the only safe way, therefore, is to make the right so habitual that the wrong will not once be thought of. In other words, we must not only be able to express ourselves correctly by tongue and pen, but the very current of unspoken words that flows in our brains must be shaped in full conformity to the laws of language. When we exercise the power of continuous grammatical thinking, there will be no difficulty 67in avoiding the ridiculous blunders which are supposed to be inseparable from extempore speech."

1857-1858: The British Empire in India is teetering on the brink of collapse in the face of widespread rebellion by native regiments. In the final phase of the Great Indian Mutiny an intrepid young woman rises to lead the mutinying sepoys: Lakshmibai, the

The brave woman, Maharani Lakshmibai, is a grand personality and inspiring chapter of Indian history. Even today her name inspires a new zeal in the hearts of all those who are struggling against injustice and cruelties. Her life was a strange combination of rise and fall. A seven-year-old innocuous madonna, the daughter of Moropant Tambe, a very ordinary common man, by quirk of circumstances, became the queen of nearly middle aged Raja Gangadhar Rao—Maharani Lakshmibai. She became a widow at the tender age of nineteen years. And from here began her life of struggles. At the time of merger of her state in the British empire, she thundered, “I’ll not give my Jhansi. The brave woman, Maharani Lakshmibai, is a grand personality and inspiring chapter of Indian history. Even today her name inspires a new zeal in the hearts of all those who are struggling against injustice and cruelties. Her life was a strange combination of rise and fall. A seven-year-old innocuous madonna, the daughter of Moropant Tambe, a very ordinary common man, by quirk of circumstances, became the queen of nearly middle aged Raja Gangadhar Rao—Maharani Lakshmibai. She became a widow at the tender age of nineteen years. And from here began her life of struggles. At the time of merger of her state in the British empire, she thundered, “I’ll not give my Jhansi.

This is a ground-breaking history of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, part of the Indian National Army led by Bengali revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose during World War II. The Regiment, a hitherto forgotten part of "the Forgotten Army," was composed largely of teenage volunteers from Malayan rubber estates, girls who had never seen India yet were eager to enlist to liberate India from colonial bondage. Bose, creator of the Regiment, connected a historical thread extending from the original Rani of Jhansi, killed in battle by the British in 1858, through Bengali women revolutionaries of the 1930s, to the Regiment, which he hoped would spearhead the liberation of India. The Rani of Jhansi Regiment provides a model of empowerment relevant for contemporary Indian women.