A New Light Upon the History of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi

This work brings forth a very important aspect, which somehow has been hitherto overlooked by the learned authors who have written upon the life and times of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. The new aspect or the new light is the unique role played by the Rani’s father Moropant Tambe in the affairs of Jhansi. Moropant was a highly learned Marhatta Brahmin, and a genius in his own right. When the Rani was four years old her mother died and since then it was Moropant who was both father and mother to the Rani. He gave her a liberal education and also encouraged her to learn the martial arts of those times. Little did he know that he was training a Queen of immortal fame during the turbulent times of the Mutiny of 1857 at Jhansi. The book unfolds the daring and selfless role that Moropant played in the interests of his daughter. He deeply loved his only daughter and was always at her side through thick and thin. In the end he sacrificed his life for her cause, dying and ignoble death by the hangman’s rope. Thus a new light has been thrown on the immortal saga of the Rani’s life. Only two authors, Dr. D.V. Thamankar and Joyce Lebra Chapman came very near to this aspect in their narrations but had somehow missed the essential core.