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The legend of Laxmi Bai has equally fascinated the writers, painters, filmmakers, and the historians. Though she has earned a place alongside other figures like Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maratha who fought to save the country, her popularity overweighs, for she highlighted as a woman, the vulnerability of a victim and the daring of a rebel. If Indian writers like Vrindavan Lal Verma, Dattaraya Balvant Parasni, Vishnubhatt Godse, Mahendra Lal Verma, Om Shankar Asar, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan have put a halo around her, the English writers did not lag behind. Fiction by British writers dramatises the horrific experience of mutiny in which the protagonist, the oriental queen, vengeful and full of fervor, added a thrilling dimension. The best tribute to her was by Michael White in his novel Lachmi Bai–Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D’Arc of India. Roy gives a meticulous account of the dauntless Rani, who passed into a legend and still lives on and her contribution to the Indian National Movement—the quintessential symbol of resistance that Indians offered to the colonial rule—her unusual lifestyle, private moments, feminine charm matched by the strength of character, unceasing energy, wisdom, sagacity and recurring sense of beleaguerment, surrounded by hostile forces and her ultimate heroic death at the hands of the British force. In all, the book contains twelve chapters. The first describes the places of her early life in Banaras, Bithur and Bundelkhand. Born to Moropant Tambe and Bhagirathi Bai, she was named Manikarnika and called Manu at home. When most Marathi girls were being taught to read, write and recite scriptures, Manu was put through the rigours of a proper Sanskrit curriculum. That the qualities she displayed in later life as a warrior queen were not apocryphal is proven by the fact that her father brought her up like a boy. Very early in her childhood, she was trained in equestrian skills, fencing, wrestling, hand-to-hand fight and firing guns. Her marriage to the Raja of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao, destined to make her a legend. The narrative continues up to the time when Laxmi Bai’s world changes with the tragedy of the deaths of her son and husband. The reader gets a peek into her seething sorrow that converts her world and metamorphoses her from a sulking widow to a determined and dauntless warrior. The force of her will is discernible in her successfully shunting the relatives who staked claims to the throne and her firm statement, "Mein Jhansi nahi doongi", challenging the Governor General’s declination of her appeal to restore her adopted son, the right of being the ruler of Jhansi. As this happened on the day of Holi, it is not celebrated in Jhansi as a remembrance of the tragedy of the year 1854. Sullen and aggrieved, she contemplated rebellion. Her struggle before the uprising was to get back what legitimately belonged to her adopted son. Earlier, she had not been hostile to the British nor had any ideological difference with the colonial rule. As late as the May 1857 sepoy mutiny, she was corresponding with British officials and was never confrontational. A glimpse of a feminist queen is seen in her act of inducing the women inhabitants of the fort into a silent transformation that is provided by physical education and awakening. The tangible effect of all these efforts were that the enemy was stunned to "see Rani’s well trained women’s unit actively working in the batteries and carrying ammunition" (158) and offer determined and gritty resistance to British forces: "Just as soon as some damage was done by the British fire, it was hastily repaired and shooting resumed. When parapets were wrecked, women were seen fixing them `85 their danger appeared to add to their courage (161)." It would be pertinent to note here that the Rani was a staunch humanist in action who was able to modify tradition. Like other widows she did not get herself tonsured and preferred to adorn herself with pearl necklaces and chanderi saris. The prose is not only about how she displayed incredible maturity and leadership when she successfully re-established regularity and order in Jhansi; her hoodwinking the invading army and the great escape and various apocryphal twists to her death, but also the controversies that rocked Lakshmi Bai while she lived and continued after her death like: Was she responsible for the massacre of whites in Jhansi? Did she support the rebels and involved herself in the uprising. The British had no tangible proof of her connivance in the mutiny but were not convinced if she should be allowed to go free. She was far too fiery to be totally above suspicion they reasoned. Their resolve to suppress her led to her end. The book is a good read as the
author, like an expert storyteller narrates the tale of the apotheosis of
Lakshmi Bai without being blinkered by the emotion of an Indian. The cover of
the book carrying her immortal image on the horseback with an arm raised ready
for combat is iconic, invoking to stir the reader’s nationalist spirit.
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