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historic city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India
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Jhansi (pronounced [d͡ʑʱãː.siː] ⓘ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (Toshan) Balwant Nagar was the old name of Jhansi. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand, on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi district and Jhansi division. Also called the Gateway to Bundelkhand, Jhansi is situated near and around the rivers Pahuj and Betwa at an average elevation of 285 m (935 ft). It is about 471 kilometres (293 mi) from national capital New Delhi, 109 kilometres (67.7 mi) from Gwalior, 240 kilometres (150 mi) from Kanpur and 320 kilometres (200 mi) from state capital Lucknow.
Jhansi is well connected to all other major towns in Uttar Pradesh by road and railway networks. The National Highways Development Project has supported development of the city. Jhansi is also being developed as the defence corridor by the NDA government which will boost the economy of the city and the region at the same time. The Srinagar to Kanyakumari north–south corridor passes closely to Jhansi, as does the east–west corridor; consequently there has been a sudden rush of infrastructure and real estate development in the city. Jhansi was adjudged the third cleanest city of Uttar Pradesh and the fastest moving city in the North Zone in Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings. The development of a greenfield airport has been planned in the city. On 28 August 2011, Jhansi was selected among 98 cities for smart city initiative by the Government of India.
According to Paul Whalley, the name Jhānsī means "covered in bushes or undergrowth", from a variant of standard Hindi jhāṛ ("bushes, undergrowth"; ultimately from Sanskrit jhāṭa). The ending -sī represents a reduced form of the Sanskrit genitive suffix -sya.
A fanciful old folk etymology for the name Jhānsī derives the name from Hindi jhāīṁ sī, meaning "like a shadow" (or, in context, "rather indistinct"). This was supposedly said by the raja of Jaitpur, when asked by his host Bir Singh Deo if he could see the fort at Jhansi from the rooftop of his palace in Orchha. (The Jaitpur raj was only founded well after Bir Singh's death, and the entire story is probably entirely spurious.)
Before the construction of Jhansi Fort on the Bangra hill in 1613, the site is said to have been covered by forest. The land then belonged to the nearby village of Lahargird, which itself belonged to the raja of Orchha's territory. Two Ahir pastoralists supposedly set up some huts at the foot of the hill to watch over their herds around 1553. The Orchha raja Bir Singh Deo later had the fort built in 1613, and a village grew up around it. The village was apparently called Balwantnagar at first; when Jhansi became the name is unknown.
After the death of Jhujhar Singh, Bir Singh's son and successor in Orchha, Jhansi came under Mughal control. Mughal troops and governors appear to have been posted here uninterrupted until the early 1700s.
In 1722, Chhatrasal overran the Jhansi region as part of his new kingdom of Bundelkhand. However, in 1728, Muhammad Khan Bangash, the Nawab of Farrukhabad, drove him out and the area came back under Mughal control. Chhatrasal appealed for help to Baji Rao I, the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, and their combined forces drove out the Mughal army. In return, Chhatrasal granted Jhansi (among other places) to Baji Rao in his will when he died in 1731. In 1735, Raja Indargir Gosain, Maratha governor of Jhansi fort, rebelled and ultimately established a small principality based at Moth to the northeast. In 1742, the Peshwa put Naru Shankar in charge of Jhansi along with miscellaneous other places.
Naru Shankar's tenure as governor was pivotal in Jhansi's history. Up until now, Jhansi had been a fairly small village below the fort, but during this period it grew to become a large town. Naru Shankar undertook construction projects in the town, including a major expansion of the fort. He also populated Jhansi with deportees from other towns, primarily Orchha. (The rajas of Orchha moved their capital to Tikamgarh around this time, and the town of Orchha itself rapidly declined.)
Naru Shankar was replaced as governor by Madho (or Madhaji) Gobind Antia in 1757. Antia constructed a reservoir known as the Antia Tal outside the city walls, on the Gwalior road. Another governor, Babu Rao Kanahi, served after Antia but before 1761, when Ganesh Shambhaji is described as "the Maratha officer in charge of Jhansi". In November 1761, Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh, had begun a military campaign in Bundelkhand, and Ganesh Shambhaji decided to switch sides and join him. After what Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava describes as an "indiscriminate plunder of Jhansi" (he doesn't specify what this means), Ganesh Shambhaji jailed 52 of his Maratha colleagues and agreed to surrender Jhansi to Shuja-ud-Daula in return for a position in the Mughal service. After a detachment of Shuja-ud-Daula's captured the fortress of Moth, the Maratha governor of Jhansi (who Srivastava doesn't name) fearfully offered to submit and pay a 300,000-rupee tribute in return for being allowed to keep possession of the fort. Shuja-ud-Daula declined the offer and besieged the city. Its defenders surrendered on 1 February 1762. Shuja-ud-Daula appointed Muhammad Bashir as faujdar of the fort, and gave Ganesh Shambhaji the tax farm revenue for the district.
The Mughal rule of Jhansi only lasted for four years before Malhar Rao Holkar recaptured it for the Marathas. Naru Shankar was apparently re-appointed governor; after his death, he was succeeded by Vishwas Rao Lachman for five years.
The next governor was Raghunath Rao Newalkar. In late 1773, Shuja-ud-Daula sent another force south of the Yamuna, this time led by one Mir Naim, but they were defeated in a battle at Jhansi. Another Mughal-aligned force, led by Mirashgir, came to besiege Jhansi in late 1774, but the death of Shuja-ud-Daula in January 1775 resulted in the siege being abandoned. Raghunath Rao remained governor until his death in 1794; he had become practically independent by his death. He was succeeded by his brother Sheo Rao Hari, also called Sheo Rao Bhao. Sheo Rao was responsible for the construction of the city walls, which took place between 1796 and 1814. The Lachhmi Talao reservoir on the east side of town is sometimes attributed to Sheo Rao as well, although it has also been attributed to Anupgir Gosain of Moth instead.
Sheo Rao's descendants continued to rule what became known as Jhansi State until 1853. Sheo Rao himself signed the first treaty with the British in 1804, which established a military alliance between the two but still recognised Jhansi as a Maratha vassal. As part of the Treaty of Pune in 1817, overlordship was transferred from the Marathas to the British themselves.
The final ruler of Jhansi State was Gangadhar Rao, who ruled from 1842 to 1853. Gangadhar Rao was a patron of the arts and a capable administrator. His only son died in infancy, so before he died, he and his wife Lakshmi Bai adopted a five-year-old boy named Damodar Rao to serve as his successor. Although this was accepted practice in Hindu law, the British did not recognise Damodar Rao as a valid heir and, invoking the Doctrine of Lapse, declared that Jhansi State had escheated to the British government. Lakshmi Bai appealed to the British court of directors, but to no avail, and in March 1854 the British took control of Jhansi.
The newly-appointed British superintendent of Jhansi, Francis Gordon, wrote a report in 1854 documenting the state of the town at that time. He estimated that it had a population of 40,000 people. It was not an industrial centre of any kind, but he wrote that its commercial traffic was "enormous"; he estimated that 3 million rupees' worth of goods passed through Jhansi per year. Large amounts of grain, coming from farmland to the south and southwest, passed through Jhansi on its way north. Cotton was brought from the west and then transported north to Kalpi. Salt also came from the west. In exchange, the merchants from the south and west bought sugar and various kirana goods to sell back home. From 1853 to 1861, a cantonment was built on the southeast side of town.
Several factors had contributed to tensions in Jhansi before the battle broke out. Besides the British annexation of Jhansi State, various other members of the landed aristocracy were upset by the British encroaching on their traditional authority. Local residents were also upset by the fact that the British had permitted cow slaughter after they took over Jhansi (it had previously been banned). Another grievance was that the British had suspended endowments to the temple of Mahalakshmi (the patron goddess of the Newalkar dynasty) which had previously come from revenue collected from certain villages.
At this point the garrison was composed entirely of Indian troops, and it consisted of five infantry companies, a cavalry force, and an artillery detachment, all commanded by British officers.
Tensions boiled over on 5 June. That afternoon, one company of the Jhansi infantry along with the artillery detachment surrounded and entered the star fort and magazine, under the pretext of an attack by dacoits. They announced their intention to garrison the star fort themselves. Most of the British civilians took shelter in the regular fort. The remaining four infantry companies along with the cavalry had not joined in at this point, and that they night slept in the barracks without incident. The next day, however, most of them rose up and attacked and killed the British officers on site. They made their way to the main fort, which the rebels encircled and besieged. This was short-lived and on the 7th the British surrendered. They were marched south to the Jokhan Bagh, just outside the city walls, and executed.
On the 9th, there was a dispute between Lakshmi Bai and Sada Sheo Rao, a relative of her late husband, over who would rule in Jhansi, with both of them "bidding against each other" to win the support of the rebels. Lakshmi Bai offered much more and the rebels handed control of Jhansi to her. A proclamation was made saying "The people are God's, the country is the Padishah's, and the raj is Rani Lakshmi Bai's". Sada Sheo Rao assembled a force of 300 supporters, seized the fort of Karahra on 13 June, and attempted to proclaim himself ruler of Jhansi, but Lakshmi Bai sent troops after him and ultimately had him imprisoned and detained.
Her position now secure, Lakshmi Bai set up an administration in Jhansi. She set up a mint, raised an army, and strengthened the forts at Jhansi and Karahra. Attempting to stay on good terms with the British, she sent a letter to a British agent named Major Erskine saying that she had only aided the rebels under duress, disavowing the massacre of British prisoners, and presenting herself as just a caretaker until the British could reoccupy the area. Erskine responded by giving her full authorisation to rule on behalf of the British until their troops arrived and sent a proclamation that all were to obey her; he assured her that she would be treated well.
The main members of Lakshmi Bai's administration were her father, Moropant Tambe; Lalu, the paymaster; Lachman Rao, the diwan; and Kashi Nath, the tahsildar.
Meanwhile, the raja of Orchha, hoping to recover ancestral territories that had been conquered by the Marathas in the 1700s, invaded Jhansi. He presented himself to the British as a loyal ally of theirs fighting to suppress the rebellious rani of Jhansi. His troops looted the countryside and besieged Jhansi on 3 September. He lifted the siege on 22 October as reinforcements under the raja of Banpur came to assist the defenders. In early 1858, Lakshmi Bai finally drove the Orchha troops out of her territory, and had consolidated her control over all the territory that had belonged to Jhansi State before the British annexation.
As late as February 1858, Lakshmi Bai pledged loyalty to the British and sent them multiple letters promising to hand over Jhansi without a fight if they treated her honourably. However, governor-general Charles Canning had never wanted to follow through with Erskine's earlier proposition, and he considered the rani a rebel against British authority. On 11 February, Canning sent a letter to the British agent at Indore with instructions to try Lakshmi Bai before a special commission if captured. Lakhsmi Bai decided that she couldn't trust the British and her only option was to fight them. On 14 February, she issued a proclamation urging both Hindus and Muslims to take up arms against the British because "they would surely destroy the people's religion". At her disposal were 12,000 troops, including 400 cavalry and about 40 artillery pieces. She also made negotiations with rebel leaders including Tantya Tope.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Jhansi”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.