Is there any city or town in India whose association with a single person is as strong as that of Jhansi with its former queen, Lakshmibai? Especially when the person in question is neither a religious figure nor the town’s founder or architect. We would be hard-pressed to think of one such person. The first name that anyone thinks of when Jhansi is mentioned is that of its much loved and immortal queen.This is even more remarkable given how short a time she spent in the city. Born Manikarnika, in the town of Bithoor (Kanpur district today), she came to Jhansi as a young bride of 14 and was gone before her 30th birthday. In the last one year of her life, her heroic struggle against the British earned her a spot in Indian history where her name is taken alongside rulers with far bigger kingdoms and longer reigns. Even today, the denizens of Jhansi take great pride in living in her city.The point in the fort from where the queen leapt off on horseback with her son tied to herDelving into Jhansi, one finds strands of history from her time in many places, especially in the fort. In the desperate fighting that marked 1857-58, the British launched an all-out assault on Jhansi fort in April 1858. Fighting was fierce with the place under siege. The assaulting British rained artillery fire for an incredible 17 days, a testimonial to the strength of the fort walls.The fort’s garrison, led by their Queen, returned fire. Ordinary citizens helped with food supplies and in fighting fires that broke out inside the fort. According to some accounts, even women were seen working with the fort’s gun batteries. After a point, however, the walls were breached. A much-needed relief force, under Tatya Tope, had been intercepted and defeated at nearby Barwa Sagar. With the damage to the fort walls now irreparable, the Queen knelt on the ramparts and prayed. Priests invoked divine blessings in the Ganesha temple in the fort.Kadak Bijli—an old cannon inside the fortBut with the fort rendered indefensible, enemy troops having entered the walls and the town on fire, the Queen tied her adopted son Damodar Rao on her back and leapt, on horseback, from a wall of the fort. Two months later, she was dead, killed in the heat of a battle near Gwalior, leaving behind her a legend that lives on, even 160 years later. The point from where she leapt from the fort is clearly marked by a board. The place leaves you in awe. There is still a Ganesha temple in the fort, and it remains in worship.While the city may draw immense pride from its Queen, Jhansi existed long before her time and much before the Marathas took possession of the city. Local historians point out that Chandela pillars were used in the fort walls. The fort, as it stands today, owes its creation to the Bundela ruler Bir Singh (reign 1605-27). According to popular local stories, Bir Singh saw a hillock across the Betwa and to him, it appeared as a ‘jhainsi’, meaning reflection.The fort was captured by the Mughals in 1634 but returned later to the Bundelas. The Maratha chapter in Jhansi’s history began in the 18th century. The city was part of the kingdom of Bundelkhand ruled by an ageing Chhatrasal. When a Mughal force invaded his territory, critical assistance rendered by the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I saved the day. In return, Chhatrasal willed one third of his possessions, including Jhansi, to the Peshwa.The town gradually began to flourish and the fort became a coveted prize, with the Nawab of Awadh capturing it in 1762 only to lose it four years later. The Marathas managed to ward off threats thereafter and remained in charge, later taking British support, until the events of the 1850s—which changed the course of Jhansi’s history. The fort is now filled with an air of tranquillity that belies the ferocity of the 1858 battle. The Queen lives on, in the memory of Jhansi’s residents and in folk ballads that eulogize her.

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