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Songs and poems

Several patriotic songs have been written about the Rani. The most famous composition about Rani Lakshmi Bai is the Hindi poem Jhansi ki Rani written by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. An emotionally charged description of the life of Rani Lakshmibai, it is often taught in schools in India. A popular stanza from it reads:

बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।

Translation: “From the Bundele Harbolas’ mouths we heard stories / She fought like a man, she was the Rani of Jhansi.”

For Marathi people, there is an equally well-known ballad about the brave queen penned at the spot near Gwalior where she died in battle, by B. R. Tambe, who was a poet laureate of Maharashtra and of her clan. A couple of stanzas run like this:

रे हिंदबांधवा, थांब या स्थळीं अश्रु दोन ढाळीं /

ती पराक्रमाची ज्योत मावळे इथे झाशिवाली /... / घोड्यावर खंद्या स्वार, हातात नंगि तर्वार / खणखणा करित ती वार / गोर्यांची कोंडी फोडित पाडित वीर इथे आली /

मर्दानी झाशीवाली!

Translation: "You, a denizen of this land, pause here and shed a tear or two / For this is where the flame of the valorous lady of Jhansi was extinguished / … / Astride a stalwart stallion / With a naked sword in hand / She burst open the British siege / And came to rest here, the brave lady of Jhansi!"