The Queen of Jhansi

by Mahasweta Devi, Mandira Sengupta (Translator), Sagaree Sengupta (Translator)

The Queen of Jhansi remains one of India's most important historical figures, a legendary heroine who led troops against the British in the uprising of 1857, now widely described as the first Indian War of Independence. Oral tales and songs about her abound, glorifying the image of a spirited young woman warrior who died on the battlefield but lives on in the minds of an entire people. Mahawera Devi's first book is a work that defies categories, simultaneously a history, a biography, and a personal statement that says as much about the author as it does about her subject- a valuable contribution to the reclamation of history, and historiography, by feminist writers. (Reprinted)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Biography, Literature, Female Authors

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Mahasweta Devi was an Indian social activist and writer. She was born in 1926 in Dhaka, to literary parents in a Hindu Brahmin family. Her father Manish Ghatak was a well-known poet and novelist of the Kallol era, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa. Mahasweta's mother Dharitri Devi was also a writer and a social worker.

She joined the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University as well. She later married renowned playwright Bijon Bhattacharya who was one of the founding fathers of the IPTA movement. In 1948, she gave birth to Nabarun Bhattacharya, currently one of Bengal's and India's leading novelist whose works are noted for their intellectual vigour and philosophical flavour. She got divorced from Bijon Bhattacharya in 1959.

In 1964, she began teaching at Bijoygarh College (an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta system). During those days, Bijoygarh College was an institution for working class women students. During that period she also worked as a journalist and as a creative writer. Recently, she is more famous for her work related to the study of the Lodhas and Shabars, the tribal communities of West Bengal, women and dalits. She is also an activist who is dedicated to the struggles of tribal people in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In her elaborate Bengali fiction, she often depicts the brutal oppression of tribal peoples and the untouchables by potent, authoritarian upper-caste landlords, lenders, and venal government officials.

Major awards:
1979: Sahitya Akademi Award (Bengali): – Aranyer Adhikar (novel)
1986: Padma Shri[2]
1996: Jnanpith Award - the highest literary award from the Bharatiya Jnanpith
1997: Ramon Magsaysay Award - Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts
1999: Honoris causa - Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
2006: Padma Vibhushan - the second highest civilian award from the Government of India
2010:Yashwantrao Chavan National Award
2011: Bangabibhushan - the highest civilian award from the Government of West Bengal
2012: Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Sahityabramha - the first Lifetime Achievement award in Bengali Literature from 4thScreen-IFJW.

মহাশ্বেতা দেবী একটি মধ্যবিত্ত বাঙালি পরিবারে জন্মগ্রহণ করেছিলেন । তাঁর পিতা মনীশ ঘটক ছিলেন কল্লোল যুগের প্রখ্যাত সাহিত্যিক এবং তাঁর কাকা ছিলেন বিখ্যাত চিত্রপরিচালক ঋত্বিক ঘটক। মা ধরিত্রী দেবীও ছিলেন সাহিত্যিক ও সমাজসেবী। মহাশ্বেতা দেবী বিখ্যাত নাট্যকার বিজন ভট্টাচার্যের সঙ্গে বিবাহবন্ধনে আবদ্ধ হন। তাঁদের একমাত্র পুত্র, প্রয়াত নবারুণ ভট্টাচার্য স্মরণীয় কবিতার পঙ্‌ক্তি ‘এ মৃত্যু উপত্যকা আমার দেশ নয়’ এবং হারবার্ট উপন্যাস লিখে বাংলা সাহিত্যে স্থায়ী স্বাক্ষর রেখে গেছেন।

তাঁর শৈশব ও কৈশোরে স্কুলের পড়াশোনা ঢাকায়। দেশভাগের পর চলে আসেন কলকাতায়। এরপর শা‌ন্তিনিকেতনের বিশ্বভারতী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে ইংরেজিতে অনার্স এবং কলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে স্নাতকোত্তর ডিগ্রি নেন।

১৯৬৪ খ্রীষ্টাব্দে তিনি বিজয়গড় কলেজে শিক্ষকতা শুরু করেন । এই সময়েই তিনি একজন সাংবাদিক এবং লেখিকা হিসাবে কাজ করেন। পরবর্তীকালে তিনি বিখ্যাত হন মূলত পশ্চিমবাংলার উপজাতি এবং নারীদের ওপর তাঁর কাজের জন্য । তিনি বিভিন্ন লেখার মাধ্যমে বিভিন্ন উপজাতি এবং মেয়েদের উপর শোষণ এবং বঞ্চনার কথা তুলে ধরেছেন। সাম্প্রতিক কালে মহাশ্বেতা দেবী পশ্চিমবঙ্গ সরকারের শিল্পনীতির বিরুদ্ধে সরব হয়েছেন । সরকার কর্তৃক বিপুল পরিমাণে কৃষিজমি অধিগ্রহণ এবং স্বল্পমূল্যে তা শিল্পপতিদের কাছে বিতরণের নীতির তিনি কড়া সমালোচক । এছাড়া তিনি শান্তিনিকেতনে প্রোমোটারি ব্যবসার বিরুদ্ধেও প্রতিবাদ করেছেন ।

তাঁর লেখা শতাধিক বইয়ের মধ্যে হাজার চুরাশির মা অন্যতম। তাঁকে পদ্মবিভূষণ (ভারত সরকারের দ্বিতীয় সর্বোচ্চ নাগরিক পুরস্কার,২০০৬), রামন ম্যাগসেসে পুরস্কার (১৯৯৭), জ্ঞানপীঠ পুরস্কার (সাহিত্য একাডেমির সর্বোচ্চ সাহিত্য সম্মান), সার্ক সাহিত্য পুরস্কার (২০০৭) প্রভৃতি পদকে ভূষিত করা হয়।

২০১৬ সালের ২৮ জুলাই, বৃহস্পতিবার বেলা ৩টা ১৬ মিনিটে চিকিৎসাধীন অবস্থায় তিনি শেষনিশ্বাস ত্যাগ করেন।


जन्म : 1926, ढाका।

Reviews

[Amari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decidedly not history written by the victors. A sweeping, spirited and proud account of events, precedents, personalities, military details, religion, and culture in 19th-century central India. While I am no expert, I find the research that Devi undertook to be quite impressive for a scholarly work of the 1950s -- especially considering that the British apparently covered their proverbial tracks with care. The writing is surely convincing. An eye-opener. In all likelihood, I'll never again read something with such detailed accounts of military battles (# of cannons and list of troops possessed by each side, etc.), but it's a fine thing to do at least once. I'm glad to have the chance to read such a compelling work of history from this unusual point of view.

[Simran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one among the very few books in English written about the Queen of Jhansi. The facts and events have been presented in detail, not to forget the amazing way in which the author had described the rebellion against the British. Every minute detail and original letters exchanged during the period. You can actually feel the war playing in your head when you read it. This is an amazing work. A ride back in time. A must read!

[Neha Khot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always impressed with historical figures and especially females who had courage to think beyond what they were made to think.... At a time when the woman's very existence was only about reproducing, she turned out to be such a strong leader who could think beyond wealth, comfort and the throne and motivate common people to pick up arms and fight for dignity!
Very well researched and articulated.
Every small detail so well described that it makes you literally live that time.

[Khyati · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey of a girl to a woman and eventually a legend. This is a gem !! Finite details of the conversations/letters btw Her Highness and East India is beautifully captured. The moments wherein the author has written about Rani Lakshmibai's loss and her zeal to protect Jhansi is commendable. Use of local dialect has given it freshness of morning dew.

[Citri · Rating 4 out of 5]

girlboss af

[Nikhil · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 2.5/5.

The book itself sits awkwardly between biography, history, oral legend, hagiography, and fiction. Because of this it’s not that incisive or memorable. This likely reflects the fact that Mahasweta devi wrote this earlier in her career; if she had written it later I think she would have done more justice to the material. A good example of this is the pains she takes to make clear that the Rani did not kill the British in Jhansi fort. Who cares? Reweave the story as deliberate killing for a blood sacrifice to Kali, much more interesting that way.

1857 itself has a strange historiography. On one extreme, are those calling it a mutiny. On the other extreme are those calling it a war for independence. It is clearly neither, but instead sits somewhere in between. It’s not a mutiny because it involved lots of people who were not soldiers. It’s not really a war for independence because there is no clearly defined political vision or mass mobilization.

Perhaps it is best understood as a morbid symptom in that interregnum when the old is not yet dead, but the new is not yet born. It has the start of a mass movement: soldiers revolting as populist uprising. But also was stuck in old models of thinking by local elites, who could not envision mass political participation and instead viewed this through the lens of standard struggles between a central imperial power (British, Mughal, Maratha, etc.) and local elites (in this instance, the rulers of individual estates/cities). And so what those local elites “leading” the revolt wanted was a return to the form of center/local relations that had previously existed. But such a type of Restoration (both literal, in the sense of rallying behind Bahadur Shah, and figurative) will not yield freedom.

[Dr. Charu Panicker · Rating 2 out of 5]

ഇന്ത്യൻ ജനതയുടെ ആത്മവീര്യത്തെ ഉണർത്തിയ അനശ്വരയായ ഝാൻസിയിലെ റാണി ലക്ഷ്മീബായിയുടെ ജീവചരിത്രം. അരപ്പതിറ്റാണ്ട് മുൻപ് റാണിയുടെ ജീവിതത്തെ കൂടുതലറിയാൻ ആഗ്രഹിച്ച് നിരാശയായ മഹാശ്വേതാദേവി, റാണിയുടെ സംഭവബഹുലമായ ജീവിതത്തിനു സാക്ഷ്യം വഹിച്ച ദേശത്തേക്ക് യാത്ര തിരിച്ചു. വാമൊഴികളിൽനിന്നും റാണിയുടെ ഉൾപ്പെടെ കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും ബ്രിട്ടിഷ്-ഇന്ത്യൻ ചരിത്രാഖ്യാനങ്ങളിൽനിന്നും കഠിനമായ പരിശ്രമത്തിലൂടെ യഥാർത്ഥ വസ്തുതകളെ പകർത്തിയെടുത്തു. ജീവചരിത്രത്തിൽ റാണിയെക്കാൾ ഉപരി ഝാൻസി എന്ന നാടിന്റെ ചരിത്രമാണ് കാണാൻ കഴിയുക.