The Rani of Jhansi The Rani of]hansi in battle. An example ofcontemporary poster art. The Rani of Jhansi A Study in Female Heroism in India JOYCE LEBRA-CHAPMAN University ofHawaii Press HONOLULU © 1986 University ofHawaii Press All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lebra-Chapman, Joyce, 1925- The Rani of Jhansi. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Lakshmi Bai, Rani ofJhansi, d. 1858. 2. India­ History-Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858. 3. Heroines­ India. 4. Legends-India-History and criticism. 5. Revolutionists-India-Biography. I. Title. DS475.2.L34L43 1986 954.03'17'0924 85-20677 ISBN 0-8248-0984-X For Gurbakhsh, Billo and Ajay, and the people oflhansi - Contents Preface ix Map ofIndia xiii Map of]hansi xv Introduction 1 1. ]hansi and the Rani 5 2. The Rani Appeals the Lapse 24 3. The Lapse of]hansi 39 4. Uprising at ]hansi 47 5. The Rani's Role 61 6. The Rani and the British Make Ready 71 7. The Battle for ]hansi 84 8. The Rani's Last Battles 96 9. Genesis of the Rani Legend 104 10. Growth ofthe Legend 118 11. Nationalism and the Legend 142 Historiographical Essay 157 Notes 167 Glossary 183 Bibliography 185 Index 195 Preface he Rani ofJhansi is a household name in India, her story the subject T of primary school readers and comic books. And yet, few Western­ ers other than those with a serious interest in India are aware that a lit­ tle more than a century ago a young woman, the widow of the maharaja ofJhansi, fought for her state in Central India and died valor­ ously in battle against soldiers of the East India Company. While working on a book on the Indian National Army I learned of the women's unit called the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. This unit, named by Subhas Chandra Bose, aroused my interest and prompted me to tum from World War II and the struggle for independence waged by the INA back to the rebellion of 1857 and in particular to look at the role played by this extraordinary woman, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. A story lives through its narrators and listeners. British sources pro­ vide one side of the Rani's story, but the image of this woman has largely been shaped by the celebration of her spirit and valor in poetry, ballad, folktale, and drama throughout India. This popular, indigenous tradi­ tion is an important source for understanding the Rani's life and espe­ cially her legend. Her epic struggle against a superior power has made her a compelling legend and gained her a kind of immortality in popu­ lar Indian culture. The layerings of her image inform the collective memory of the nation; her story continues to be told by the poets of Bundelkhand. Her history as recorded by the English is therefore not enough. Lakshmibai became the raw material of noble aspirations and ideal­ istic visions. It also became apparent to me that her legend, told during x Preface the last half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fed into the stream of growing nationalism. She became a potent political symbol, a symbol that is being reinterpreted in fresh ways even today. Convinced that the Rani would capture the imagination of Western readers even as Joan of Arc did, I embarked on the present study. I visit­ ed Jhansi, Kalpi, Gwalior, Lucknow, and Kanpur, saw the forts where she fought and died, and taped the poetry and songs still sung by poets in Jhansi and Gwalior. I consulted the National Archives and Nehru Memorial Museum Library in New Delhi and the India Office Library and British Museum in London. I used the Ames Library collection on South Asia at the University of Minnesota. I sought the counsel and assistance of Indian scholars and archivists, in particular historians in Gwalior and Jhansi. And I listened to recollections by residents of Gwa­ lior and Jhansi of tales told them by parents and grandparents, tales that form the oral legend of Lakshmibai. I became intrigued by the process by which a historical figure is transformed into a legend. What is the genesis of such a process and through what stages does it pass? How and why is it that the story of this particular woman has been transmitted across so many generations of Indians through ballad, song, and folktale, through plastic, visual, and performing arts, to more modern evocations in cinema? What was the political impact of the image and metaphor of the Rani during the period of developing nationalism? What sources of Hindu civilization were tapped or activated to produce so powerful an impact, so potent a myth? The Rani, like Joan of Arc, supersedes the available Western tax­ onomy of female archetypes; both were beyond the categories of wife, mother, temptress, and witch. But unlike Joan, whose legendary status brought her sainthood, the Rani could ride goddesslike to immortality. The Hindu image of female heroism afforded a richer matrix within which the Rani legend could incubate. Her exploits and valorous sem­ blance proclaimed the Rani's bravery and spirit in the classical Hindu idiom. Thus she was able to surpass the Western lexicon of female hero­ ism and to become the most famous of all Asian heroines. This book is an attempt to discover why she became transmuted into a legend that is lodged permanently in the hearts of Indians. It is also an attempt to make her as real to Westerners as she is to Indians. What fol­ lows, then, is necessarily part history and part mythology, part fact and part reflections of the fact, concerned both with popular mythmaking Preface xi and with political manipulation in the interests of a national move­ ment. It would be impossible to acknowledge adequately the advice, sug­ gestions, assistance, and encouragement I received in the course of researching this volume over a period of four or five years in several countries. I would nevertheless like to mention a few individuals whose contributions were invaluable. In Delhi: Ajay and Billo Jain, S. N. Prasad, the late Jaya Appasamy, Ravinder Kumar, Dr. Panigrahi, V. C. Joshi, Bimla Prasad, and Hari DevSharma In Jhansi: Col. G. S. Dhillon of Shivpuri, B. D. Gupta, P. K. Sama­ dhiya, B. K. Misra, Rekha Singh, Shri Avadesh, Peggy Cantem, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Seefeldt, Margaret Vigeland and Iona Hepner, J. L. Kanchan, Romesh Chaube, and Chhaki Lal Verma In Gwalior: Hari Har Nivas Dvivedi and Rituraj Dvivedi, Arthur Hughes, and Jaya Ram Jakhenia In Nagpur: Dr. and Mrs. E. G. Tambe and Vasant Varkhedkar In Datia: Basudev Goswamy In Calcutta: Sisir and Krishna Bose In Kanpur: Prem and Lakshmi Sahgal In London: Martin Moir and Andrew Cook of the India Office Library and K. A. Ballhatchet of the School of Oriental and African Studies . In Cambridge: the late Eric Stokes In Minneapolis: Henry Scholberg, Ames Library In Boulder: Robert Lester, Chandran Kaimal, Ronald Bernier, and Paul Levitt In Durham, North Carolina: Jack Cell In Melbourne: Ian Copland For financial support during the spring of 1983 I am grateful to the U.S. Sub-Commission on Education and Culture for an Indo-American Fellowship; also to P. R. Mehendiratta and Mr. Suri and the staff of the American Institute for Indian Studies in New Delhi for logistic support. For translation of much of two volumes of B. D. Mahor's work on Lakshmibai and the events of 1857, I am indebted to Niti Mahanti of New Delhi. B. D. Gupta of Jhansi kindly provided translations of por­ tions of works by Hardikar, Parasnis, and Vrindan Lal Verma. Transla­ tions of poetry were almost entirely provided by Col. G. S. Dhillon, xii Preface himself an Urdu poet of note. In some of the translations he was assisted by Rekha Singh of Jhansi and P. P. Soti and Mohan Aterkar of Gwalior. For translations of the poems and songs performed for me by the women of the Nagpur Rashtra Sevika Samiti I am also indebted to Pramila Medhe. Billo Jain translated portions of V. Varkhedkar's novel on Tatya Tope and also furnished a translation of the song sung by the Sepoys in 1957, recorded from the voice of B. D. Mahor. For help in unraveling the mysteries and marvels of the word proces­ sor I am grateful to Nancy Mann and Ray Cuzzort. 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