<P> Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, in May 1842 and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai) in honour of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi . She gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, in 1851, who died after four months . The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Rao's cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before the Maharaja died . The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter from the Maharaja instructing that the child be treated with respect and that the government of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime . After the death of the Maharaja in November 1853, because Damodar Rao (born Anand Rao) was adopted, the British East India Company, under Governor - General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao's claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories . When she was informed of this she cried out "I shall not surrender my Jhansi" (Mein meri Jhansi nahi doongi). In March 1854, Lakshmibai was given an annual pension of Rs. 60,000 and ordered to leave the palace and the fort . Rani Lakshmibai has been known to the British most commonly as "the Rani of Jhansi"; in Hindi she is often known as "Jhansi ki Rani". </P> <P> Rani Lakshmibai was accustomed to riding on horseback accompanied by a small escort between the palace and the temple although sometimes she was carried by palanquin . Her horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Badal; according to tradition she rode Badal when escaping from the fort in 1858 . The Rani Mahal, the palace of Rani Lakshmibai, has now been converted into a museum . It houses a collection of archaeological remains of the period between the 9th and 12th centuries AD . </P> <P> On 10 May 1857 the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut . When news of the fighting reached Jhansi, the Rani asked the British political officer, Captain Alexander Skene, for permission to raise a body of armed men for her own protection; Skene agreed to this . The city was relatively calm in the midst of the regional unrest, but the Rani conducted a Haldi Kumkum ceremony with pomp in front of all the women of Jhansi to provide assurance to her subjects, in the summer of 1857 and to convince them that the British were cowards and not to be afraid of them . </P> <P> Until this point, Lakshmibai was reluctant to rebel against the British . In June 1857, rebels of the 12th Bengal Native Infantry seized the fort containing the treasure and magazine, and after persuading the British to lay down their arms by promising them no harm, broke their word and massacred 40 to 60 European officers of the garrison along with their wives and children . The Rani's involvement in this massacre is still a subject of debate . An army doctor, Thomas Lowe, wrote after the rebellion characterising her as the "Jezebel of India...the young rani upon whose head rested the blood of the slain". </P>

Short note of rani laxmi bai in hindi