Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi

This print celebrates the queen of the princely kingdom of Jhansi, in Uttar Pradesh, in leading armed revolt against British rule as part of the Indian rebellion of 1857 (conventionally termed by British historians the Indian Mutiny). The Rani of Jhasni’s multiple encounters with British forces are well recorded, as is her final wounding and death in defense of Gwalior Fort in June 1858. The print depicts the queen of Jhansi, who had ruled since her husband’s death in 1853, dressed in male attire, dispatching an Indian soldier (sepoy) in the service of the British. She is accompanied by two men, likely intended to depict her son Damodar Rao, the youthful man far right, and her general Khuda Bakhsh Basharat Ali. Her beloved stallion Badal stands behind, together with a second stead. This extraordinary print was produced soon after the events depicted in a Kalighat studio in Calcutta. In the highly charged atmosphere following the Indian rebellion, a print such as this would have been seen as highly subversive, and would have had to circulate in secret, no doubt accounting for so few impressions having survived.