The Rani was advised by her Sardars to go out of the fort to join the Peshwa and re-fight the British on the Kalpi fields.
She rode forward at night with her adopted child Damodar Rao being tied on her back, in a Silk Dhoti. A friend and a group of soldiers accompanied her. At the northern gate, they dodged a sentry. But soon the British came to know about her exit. She was pursued by some of them. Her father Moropant Tambe, wounded by the guards followed her as far as Datia but he was captured by the Deewan of the State, handed over to the Britishers and later hanged.
One of Rani’s pursuers Lt. Bowker overtook her at a place called Banda, twenty miles off Jhansi but her escort gave a hard fight and the pursuers gave up the chase. Rani continued the journey till they reached Kalpi at the midnight of the next day. A ride of a hundred and two miles with the burden of her adopted son on her back fighting with Lt. Bowker was a great act of chivalry and determination.
The Rani met the leaders like Rao Saheb, Tatya Tope, the Nawab of Banda. As she had the capacity to raise a force swiftly. She did so and advanced towards Koonch Gaon, forty-two miles from Kalpi. She had, of course, not been able to arrange it in the way she liked. It lacked oneness of heart, unity of plan and constitution and discipline and subordination. On the other hand, the forces of Hugh Rose were well knit. As soon as Hugh came from Jhansi, the rebels met him at Koonch Gaon. The Rani sensed that the hot sunrise would not be tolerated by the forces of Hugh Rose. So she ordered one of her contingents not to engage in the fight with the British forces before 10 in the morning. But this strategy did not work well. The British forces won the battle, as the forces of the rebels were not well co-ordinated.
Rani was not the person to be cowed down by such reverses. She went to the tent of Peshwa and told him that if their forces were well-organised, the enemy should not be victorious. The Nawab of Banda was inspired by the speech. Rao Saheb led the whole force.
Major Ore under Sir Hugh Rose advanced with the 25th infantry, which comprised mostly the Indians, towards the ‘Maidan’ near Kalpi and made an assault on the vanguard. When the Rani realised that it was falling, she rushed forward, sword in hand with lightning rapidity and fell on the right wing of the English with her red-informed cavalry. The attack was so sudden that the right wing was almost dead. The rapid onslaught by a young lady of 22, with her horse at full speed, her sword killing men to the right and the left inspired others in the forces of the Rani. The Rani and her cavalry, then advance right on the guns which were spitting deadly fire and attacked the artillery. English gunners left the guns; their horse artillery was routed.
Hugh Rose was taken aback by this terrible onslaught. But he advanced with his reserve camels. By the strength of the camels alone, on 22nd May 1858, the Britishers were able to force the Peshwa’s forces to retire towards Kalpi. Hugh Rose entered Kalpi on 24th May 1858. In the fort, his forces captured sixty thousand pounds of gun-powder, buried under the ground in addition to other costly and deadly war equipments. Kalpi fell after a weak.
It was at Gopalpur not far from Gwalior that the three leaders, the Rani of Jhansi, Rao Saheb and Tatya Tope met and made a plan to subdue Gwalior. They along with eleven thousand men and twelve cannons marched towards it in the hope that its Maharaja could join them. The Maharaja opposed them at Morar but was defeated. His army joined the rebels.
Meanwhile, on 6th June 1858, Gen. Rose left Kalpi and ten days later, he forced march at night and occupied Morar. The next day at Kota Ki Sarai, he attacked the rebels.
The Rani guarded the eastern gate. She rode forward and ordered the forces under her to march on. Her select band of horsemen charged hard on the English army. She fought so well that the British forces under General Smith were forced to retreat.
The next day, the British resolved to make a desperate assault. Gen. Rose was himself present on the scene. The Rani with a turban on her head and mounting a new horse challenged the British forces with her shining sword. She led her troops to repeated and fierce attacks. She was also rallying her shattered force. She performed prodigies of valour.
The Rani accompanied by her two friends put her horse to gallop in order to break through the enemy and to join her forces on the other side. The British horsemen of the Hussars fired shots after shots on her. One soldier shot one of her friend Munder. The Rani attacked and killed him on the spot. She marched on and came to a small rill. She wanted to make a jump but the horse failed her. The British horsemen attacked her. Her swords met with many swords but at last, one horseman of the foe hit her on the head and then on the chest. The Rani fell down and ultimately died on 17th June 1858. Her faithful servant Ram Chandra Rao Deshmukh was near her. A pile of grass unseen by the enemy was prepared. Her body was put on the pyre and before her body could be touched by the enemy, she was cremated.
V.D. Savarkar wrote in the ‘The Indian war of Independence 1857’—
She had achieved her purpose, fulfilled her ambition and carried out her resolve! One such life vindicates the whole existence of a nation. She was the concentrated essence of all virtues. A mare woman, hardly twenty-three as yet, beautiful as rose, changing in her manners, pure of conduct, she had a power of organsiation of her subjects, exhibited by very few, ever among men. The flame of patriotism was farming in her heart. And she was proud of her country’s honour and pre-eminent in war. It is very rarely that a nation is fortunate as to be able to claim such an angelic person, as a daughter and a queen.”
The outstanding Hindi Novelist Vrindavan Lal Verma wrote a novel on Rani Laxmibai. In this novel, he sums up his evaluation of the Rani thus—“The Rani fought for Swarajya, died for Swarajya and turned herself into a stone for the foundation of Swarajya.”
Then there is a famous heroic song of poetess Subhadhara Kumari Chauhan—“KHOOB LADI MARDANI WOH TO JHANSI WALI RANI THI”.
Today Rani Laxmibai is not with us, but her biography gives inspiration to crores of Indian women. We salute hundred and hundred of times of such a brave lady who had made our country proud.
