Jhalkari Bai

01The girl from Bhojla

Bundelkhand remembers her as a girl who herded cattle, gathered wood in the jungle and once killed a leopard with an axe. She married Puran Kori, a soldier in the Jhansi artillery, and through him came to the notice of Rani Lakshmibai. The Rani was raising a troop of women trained in the musket, the sword and horse riding, later called the Durga Dal. Jhalkari became one of its leaders. People in Jhansi also said she looked remarkably like the Rani herself.

02April 1858

When Sir Hugh Rose’s army stormed Jhansi in early April 1858, the Rani left the fort by night for Kalpi. The Bundeli accounts say Jhalkari put on the Rani’s dress, rode out to the British camp and held their attention long enough for the real Rani to get clear. How she died is told differently: some say she fell in the fighting, others that she was released and lived on. Her story was kept alive in Bundeli songs long before historians wrote it down. India Post issued a stamp in her honour on 22 July 2001.

Place · 1613, Bir Singh Deo Bundela of OrchhaJhansi FortThe Bundela fort on Bangra hill that became the seat of Rani Lakshmibai, who held it against Sir Hugh Rose’s army in March–April 1858 and broke out when it fell. It is the fort of ‘Khoob ladi mardani’.Read →