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Sometime ago Ram Rahman sent me an image which was possibly a photo of the Rani. It had come from a book, The Indian War of Independence, by V.D. Savarkar published in 1909.
Then recently (beginning of 2007) Krishna Balakrishnan wrote to me
regarding this photo and after some discussion as to whether it really
was the Rani, and what were the chances of there being a photographer in
Jhansi between the death of Gangadhar Rao and the siege of Jhansi, and
so on, he set about locating a copy of Savarkar's book and found that it
did not contain the photo. With commendable perseverance, Krishna
worked his way through all the editions available and was finally able
to solve the mystery when he found an edition with the photo and this explanatory text:-
"The picture on the left, shown as that of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi is
in fact, not her picture, but that of Sultan Jehan Begum of Bhopal. This
was among the pictures that were till then being represented abroad as
the Rani's and hence the mistake."
Savarkar had presumably also been misled.
There are two Sultan Jahan Begums of Bhopal, mother and daughter and it
isn't obvious, to me at least, which one is meant. Both were widows and
there is good to be said of both:-
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Shah Jahan Begum, Begum of Bhopal (1838-1901)
- Quoting from the above British Library page:-
Shah-Jahan Begum was known for commencing the construction of the
Taj-ul-Masjid mosque in Bhopal and for other public work projects like
subsidising the cost of a railway to be constructed between Hoshangabad
and Bhopal. In 1872 she was created a Grand commander of the Most
Exalted Order of the Star of India.
And according to Wikipedia she "...made sizable donations towards the
building of a mosque at Woking, Surrey in the UK. She also contributed
generously towards the founding of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College
at Aligarh, which developed into the Aligarh Muslim University."
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Sultan Jahan Begum, Begum of Bhopal (1858-1930)
- Quoting from the above British Library page:
Sultan Jahan Begum was a reformer and did much to advance the position
of women and education in Bhopal. Though her main legacy is public
health, by adopting widespread inoculation and vaccination, improving
sanitation, hygiene and the water supply. In 1904 she recieved the Grand
Commander of the Indian Empire and the Grand Commander of the Star of
India in 1910.
I'm sure it is coincidence that she was born at about the same time as the Rani was dying.
It's regrettable that the photo is not of the Rani but I must confess
that when I first saw the photo I was disappointed that it did not show
someone looking more like that other Rani, her of Mukherjee. A shallow
response, rendered even less laudable by the character and achievements
of the Rani herself and which ever of the two Begums the photo actually
shows.
My thanks to Ram Rhaman for bringing the photo to my attention and to
Krishna Balakrishnan for his research and sheer doggedness.
As a bonus, Krishna (yet more gratitude!) also scanned some of the illustrations from this edition of Savarkar's book:-
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Page 1
The supposed photo of the Rani.
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Page 2
showing a photo of the Bhandeer Gate, the Rani's Dagger, her seal, 2 of her cannon and a stylised portrait of Gangadhar Rao.
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Page 3
A stylised portrait of the Rani by a court painter before Gangadhar
died. Note that the text stating that he died when she was 18 is
incorrect, she was more like 25 or 26 at the time. And again, one has to
ask if this is really the Rani?
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Page 4
A painting of the Rani charging a British battery
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