Lakshmibai

pronunciation (helpinfo) (19 November 1828 17 June 1858;[1][2][3] commonly known in

English as the Rani of Jhansi, and in Hindi as Jhansi ki Rani) was the rani (queen) of the Maratharuled Jhansi State, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the leading figures of
the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and for Indian nationalists a symbol of resistance to the rule of
the British East India Company in the subcontinent.

Biography[edit]
Lakshmibai was born probably on 19 November 1828 [1][3][4][5][6] in the holy town of Varanasi into
a Brahmin Marathafamily.[7] She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu. [8] Her father was
Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai). Her parents came
from Maharashtra. Her mother died when she was four. Her father worked for a
court Peshwa of Bithoor district who brought Manikarnika up like his own daughter [clarification needed] .[9] 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 archery, horsemanship,
and self-defence.[cita
On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai 261244.26N 781024.76E near the Phool Bagh of Gwalior, a
squadron of the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars, under Captain Heneage, fought the large Indian
force commanded by Rani Lakshmibai which was trying to leave the area. The 8th Hussars charged
into the Indian force, killing many Indian soldiers, taking two guns and continuing the charge right
through the Phool Bagh encampment. In this engagement, according to an eyewitness account,
Rani Lakshmibai put on a sowar's uniform and attacked one of the hussars; she was unhorsed, fired
at him with a pistol, and also wounded, probably by his sabre, followed by a fatal shot from his
carbine.[34][35] According to another tradition Rani Lakshmibai, the Queen of Jhansi, dressed as a
cavalry leader, was badly wounded; not wishing the British to capture her body, she told a hermit to
burn it. After her death a few local people cremated her body. The British captured the city
of Gwalior after three days. In the British report of this battle, Hugh Rose commented that Rani
Lakshmibai is "personable, clever and beautiful" and she is "the most dangerous of all Indian
leaders".[36][37] Rose reported that she had been buried "with great ceremony under a tamarind tree
under the Rock of Gwalior, where I saw her bones and ashes". [38][39] Her tomb is in the Phool Bagh
area of Gwalior. Twenty years after her death Colonel Malleson wrote in the History of the Indian
Mutiny; vol. 3; London, 1878 'Whatever her faults in British eyes may have been, her countrymen will
ever remember that she was driven by ill-treatment into rebellion, and that she lived and died for her
country

Ramachandra Pandurang Tope (1814 18 April 1859), popularly known as Tatya Tope ( )
was an IndianBrahmin Maratha leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and one of its more renowned
generals. He was a personal adherent of Nana Saheb of Bithur. He progressed with the Gwalior
contingent after the British reoccupation of Kanpur and forced General Windham to retreat from
Kanpur. Later on, he came to the relief of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and with her seized the city of
Gwalior. However he was defeated by General Napier's British Indian troops at Ranod and after a
further defeat at Sikar abandoned the campaign.[1] Finally he was betrayed by his trusted friend Man
Singh. He was executed by the British Government at Shivpuri on 18 April 1859.
Born in a Yeola of Nashik District (Maharashtra), he was the only son of Pandurang Rao Tope and
his wife Rukhmabai. In 1851, when James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of
Dalhousie deprived Nana Sahib of his father's pension, Tatya Tope also became a sworn enemy of
the British.

Role in the 1857 uprising

Tatya Tope was Nana Sahib's close associate and general. During the Siege of Cawnpore in 1857,
Nana Sahib's forces attacked the British entrenchment at Kanpur in June 1857. The low supplies of
food, water and medicine added to the misery of the British Forces who accepted Nana Sahib offer
of safe passage to Allahabad.[citation needed]
Many of General Wheeler's men were either killed or captured. The surviving British women and
children were moved from the Savada House to Bibighar, "the House of the Ladies", a villa-type
house in Kanpur.[citation needed]
Nana Sahib decided to use the captives for bargaining with the British. [2] The Company forces from
Allahabad, under the command of General Henry Havelock, advanced relentlessly towards
Cawnpore. Two forces sent by Nana Sahib to check their advance were defeated. When it became
clear that the bargaining attempts had failed, an order was given to murder the women and children
imprisoned at Bibighar, on July 15. The details of the incident, such as who ordered the massacre,
are not clear.[3] .
The Company forces reached Cawnpore on July 16, and captured the city. Both Nana Sahib and
Tope escaped from the city. While Nana Sahib fled to an unknown place, Tope continued the fight
against the British. In November 1857, he gathered a large army, mainly consisting of the rebel
soldiers from the Gwalior contingent, to recapture Cawnpore. By November 19, Tope's advance
guard of 6,000 dominated all the routes west and north-west of Cawnpore. However, his forces were
defeated by the Company forces under Colin Campbell in the Second Battle of Cawnpore, marking
the end of the rebellion in the Cawnpore area. Tope then joined Rani Laxmi Bai at Kalpi