Indian warrior queen

1835 Lakshmibai (Rani, or Ranee, Lakshmi Bai; d. 1858), the warrior queen of Jhansi, a Maratha-ruled princely state of northern India. She is sometimes referred to as the Boudicca (Boadicea) of India.

Lakshmibai was born into a Brahmin family in Varanasi, India. She received an unusual education for a girl, learning to read and write, and even studying horsemanship and martial arts.

At age eight, Lakshmibai married the Raja of Jhansi. When her husband died in 1853, the English seized Jhansi and denied Lakshmibai the throne. During the Great Rebellion – which the British insisted on calling "the Sepoy Mutiny" (1857) – 22-year-old Lakshmibai joined the rebels and trained an army of women to defend her fortress ...

Categories: india, history, military