Jhansi Fort

Jhansi Fort or Jhansi ka Kila is a fortress situated on a large hilltop called Bangira, in Uttar Pradesh, Northern India. It served as a stronghold of the Chandela Kings in Balwant Nagar from the 11th through the 17th century. It was built by Raja Bir Singh Ju Deo (1606-27) of Orchha on a rocky hill called Bangra in the town of Balwantnagar (presently known as Jhansi). The fort has ten gates ( Darwaza). Some of these are Khandero Gate, Datia Darwaza, Unnao gate, Jharna Gate, Laxmi Gate, Sagar Gate, Orcha Gate, Sainyar Gate, Chand Gate.

      

Among places of interest within the main fort area are the Karak Bijli Toup (Tank), Rani Jhansi Garden, Shiv temple and a “Mazar” of Ghulam Gaus Khan, Moti Bai and Khuda Baksh.

The Jhansi fort, a living testimony of ancient glamor and valour, also has a fine collection of sculptures which provide an excellent inside into the eventful history of Bundelkhand.

Notable sights in the fort are the Shiva temple, Ganesh temple at the entrance, and the Kadak Bijli cannon used in the uprising of 1857. The memorial board reminds one of the hair-raising feat of the Rani Lakshmibai in jumping on horseback from the fort.

 Jhansi Fort history

It was one of the major fortifications for the Bundela rulers. Mohammed Khan Bangash attacked the maharaja, Chhatrasal, in 1728. He was helped in his victory over the invader by Peshwa Bajirao. As a token of gratitude for the support, Chhatrasal offered a part of his state to the Peshwa, including Jhansi. Naroshanker became Jhansi’s Subedar in 1742. Throughout his rule of 15 years, he extended the Jhansi Fort and the extension is known as Shankargarh. The Peshwa summoned him back in 1757 and Madhav Govind Kakirde and thereafter Babulal Kanahai became Jhansi’s Subedars.

The battle for Jhansi (1858 AD)

A British political officer was witness to the adoption and was in possession of a letter from the maharaja, stating that the child should be respectfully treated while instructing the handover of the government of Jhansi to his widow throughout her entire lifetime. Post the death of the ruler in November 1853, since Damodar Rao was an adopted child, the British East India Company, spearheaded by Lord Dalhousie, the governor-general, came up with the Doctrine of Lapse. They rejected the claim of Damodar Rao to the empire and annexed the state. Lakshmi Bai was awarded an annual pension in 1854 of Rs 60,000 and directed to leave the Fort and palace alike. The revolt broke out against the British in 1857 and she assumed control of the fort, leading the army of Jhansi against the East India Company. Company forces led by general Hugh Rose attacked the Jhansi Fort throughout March and early April 1858 and it was finally captured on April 4, 1858. Rani Lakshmi Bai fought courageously and escaped, by jumping on horseback from the Jhansi Fort before the city was plundered by the British troops. The British government gave Jhansi city and the fort to Jiyaji Rao Scindia, the Gwalior maharaja, in 1861, although it was later taken back in 1868 by the British.

Rani of Jhansi, India’s Warrior Queen Who Fought the British

In the mid-19th century, what became the modern nation of India was dotted with hundreds of princely states, one of which, Jhansi, in the north, was ruled by Queen Laxmibai. Her reign came at a pivotal time: The British, who were expanding their presence in India, had annexed her realm and stripped her of power.

Laxmibai tried to regain control of Jhansi through negotiations, but when her efforts failed she joined the Indian Rebellion of 1857, an uprising of soldiers, landowners, townspeople and others against the British in what is now known as India’s first battle for independence. It would be 90 years before the country would finally uproot the British, in 1947.

The queen, or rani, went on to train and lead her own army, composed of both men and women, only to perish on the battlefield in June 1858.

In the decades that followed, her life became a subject of competing narratives. Indians hailed her as a heroine, the British as a wicked, Jezebel-like figure. But somewhere between these portrayals she emerged as a symbol not just of resistance but of the complexities associated with being a powerful woman in India.

“Her story has come to us less as history and more as mythology,” Harleen Singh, an associate professor of literature and women’s studies at Brandeis University, said in a phone interview. “It’s female heroism that is bound to the family and the nation.”

She added, “In a way, she’s considered singular — and she is singular — because she fought for the nation, for something larger than herself.”

Laxmibai wasn’t of royal blood. Manakarnika, as she was named at birth, is widely believed to have been born in 1827 in Varanasi, a city in northeast India on the banks of the Ganges River. She was raised among the Brahmin priests and scholars who sat atop India’s caste system. Her father worked in royal courts as an adviser, giving her access to an education, as well as horses.

In 1842, Manakarnika married Maharaja Gangadar Rao, the ruler of Jhansi, and took on the name Laxmibai. (It was — and, in some parts of the country, still is — a common practice for women to change their names after marriage.)

By most accounts she was an unconventional queen, and a compassionate one. She refused to abide by the norms of the purdah system, under which women were concealed from public view by veils or curtains. She insisted on speaking with her advisers and British officials face to face. She wore a turban, an accessory more common among men. And she is said to have trained women in her circle to ride and fight. She attended to the poor, regardless of their caste, a practice that even today would be considered bold in parts of India.

By most accounts she was an unconventional queen, and a compassionate one. She refused to abide by the norms of the purdah system, under which women were concealed from public view by veils or curtains. She insisted on speaking with her advisers and British officials face to face. She wore a turban, an accessory more common among men. And she is said to have trained women in her circle to ride and fight. She attended to the poor, regardless of their caste, a practice that even today would be considered bold in parts of India.

Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi has been immortalized in India’s nationalist narrative. There are movies, TV shows, books and even nursery rhymes about her. Streets, colleges and universities are named after her. Young girls dress up in her likeness, wearing pants, turbans and swords. Statues of her on horseback, with her son tied to her back, have been erected in many cities throughout India. And, almost a century after her death, the Indian National Army formed an all-female unit that aided the country in its battle for independence in the 1940s.