Lets face it, Jhansi is not really up there on the tourist circuit. But then again, who hasn’t heard of it? Made famous by Rani Lakshmibai, who still exemplifies courage and defiance, whose story the bards of Bundelkhand still sing….well, I like to think the guide sounded like one, reciting lines from the famous poem at the fort as the sun went down over the ramparts, giving me goose-pimples.
Reaching Jhansi
We were to RV with the cousins at Jhansi but the train was running late as we crossed the low lying lake on the outskirts of Jhansi town. A huge figure in a strange pose on a hacked hill caught my eye. Later someone enlightened me that it was Major Dyan Chand in a hockey playing stance. Infact it seems that this area gave a handful of hockey players to the national team. Since we were in Jhansi for the night we decided to explore a bit and catch the sound and light show at the fort.
Read about how we beat Murphy’s Law to get here in- Picture Postcards from Bundelkhand
Marching through the Fort
The guide took us for a bit of a quick march through the fort trying to give us our bang for the buck considering we’d landed close to closing time. Fortunately it is a tiny albeit well maintained fort with barely a clutch of buildings including a shaft, diligently pointed out to us, where people were hung regularly. It was a spot on the route taken by the queen everyday, to visit the temple nearby. So she apparently prevailed on the king to do away with this macabre affair which I’m sure didn’t help her reach a zen state.
Surveying the Town
This cannon is placed above the Ganesh temple in the fort. It faces the old entrance(Now closed.) with a typical serpentine path leading in. Standing here we spied the orange coloured tower of a church and a butterscotch coloured building which the guide told us was the Rani Mahal. The place where Rani Lakshmibai was moved to when the British took over the fort. The Mahal has some fine wall paintings and is a sort of museum housing ancient stone sculptures. Both structures looked as if they had been transported straight from Spain.( I have no idea why I thought so.) Like a lot many old garrisons Jhansi has more than it’s share of churches.
Explore the churches of another garrison in- 3 Churches in Mhow: Discovering Obscure History and Outstanding Carols
The Fort’s Fire and Fury
So one of the cannons is called Kadak Bijli and another Bhavani Shankar. I think naming objects confers them distinct personalities instantly. This cannon was a piece of art and I love the way it looks as if it’s been placed on an elephant’s back with the stone base also curving like an elephant’s trunk.
More Than What Meets the Eye
The fort was made by a Bundela king around 1613 AD but was gifted to Bajirao a century or so later. A substantial part of it is actually underground including tunnels that disappear in different directions and several structures on top were razed by the British. The voices of Om Puri and Shushmita Sen tell the subsequent intertwined destiny of a fort and it’s last queen, who supposedly (and famously) said- I will never give up my Jhansi!
The Site and the Sights
Standing literally on the spot where history was made- where Lakshmibai on her horse Baadal with her son tied to her back jumped to escape the British. She survived to fight another day but her horse did not last long. She met her end soon dressed, apparently, as a soldier in a last battle at Gwalior.
Discover the other place in Madhya Pradesh not to be missed in- Mandu & Maheshwar in the Monsoon Mist