Jhansi History

History

When a raja died in 1853, his widow and successor Rani Lakshmibai was forcibly retired by the British (a controversial law allowed them to take over any princely state under their patronage if the ruler died without a male heir). During the Indian Uprising four years later, Rani Lakshmibai was at the forefront of Jhansi’s rebellion. The British contingent here was massacred, but the following year they retook Jhansi while the rebel forces quarrelled among themselves. The rani fled to Gwalior. In a fatal last stand she rode out against the British disguised as a man and subsequently became a heroine of Indian Independence.