Kastrb Gndhi (Gujarati: , Hindi: ) (11 April 1869 22 February 1944) was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,

hi, marrying him in an arranged marriage in 1883.

Early life and background

Born to wealthy businessman Gokuladas Kapadia of Porbandar, Kasturba was married to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi through arrangement. Gandhi was thirteen and Kasturba was fourteen when they married. When Gandhi left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their newborn son Harilal. She had three more sons: Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), and Devdas (1900). [edit]Political

career

Kasturba Gandhi joined her husband in political protests. She traveled to South Africa in 1897 to be with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturbai was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labor prison. Later, in India, she sometimes took her husband's place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and writing.

Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi (c.19 November 1835 17 June 1858) (Marathi- ),a well known as Jhansi Ki Rani, or the queen of Jhansi, was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India. She was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the northern part of India.

The 1857 Revolution

Rani Lakshmibai in a 19TH centuryKalighat painting.

On May 10, 1857 the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut. This began after rumours that the new bullet casings for the Lee Enfield rifles were coated with pork and beef fat; British commanders insisted on their use and started to discipline anyone who disobeyed. During this rebellion sepoys killed many British soldiers and officers of the East India Company. Unrest began to spread throughout India. During this chaotic time, the British were forced to focus their attentions elsewhere, and Lakshmi Bai was essentially left to rule Jhansi alone. During this time, she was able to lead her troops swiftly and efficiently to quell skirmishes breaking out in Jhansi. Through this leadership Lakshmi Bai was able to keep Jhansi relatively calm and peaceful in the midst of the Empires unrest. For example, she conducted the haldi-kumkum ceremony with great pomp and ceremony before all the women of Jhansi to provide assurance to her subjects and to convince them that Jhansi was under no threat of an attack.[3] Up to this point, she had been hesitant to rebel against the British, and there is still some controversy over her role in the massacre of the British HEIC officials and their wives and children on the 8th June 1857 at Jokhan Bagh.[4] Her hesitation finally ended when British troops arrived under Sir Hugh Rose and laid siege to Jhansi on 23 March 1858. She rallied her troops around her and fought fiercely. An army of 20,000, headed by the rebel leader Tatya Tope, was sent to relieve Jhansi and to take Lakshmi Bai to freedom. However, the British, though numbering only 1,540 in the field so as not to break the siege, were better trained and disciplined than the raw recruits, and these inexperienced soldiers turned and fled shortly after the British began to attack on 31st March. Lakshmi Bais forces could not hold out and three days later the British were able to breach the city walls and capture the city. Lakshmi Bai escaped by jumping from the wall at night with her son and fled from her city, surrounded by her guards, many of them women.[4]. Along with the young Anand Rao, the Rani decamped to Kalpi along with her forces where she joined other rebel forces, including those of Tatya Tope. The Rani and Tatya Tope moved on to Gwalior, where the combined rebel forces defeated the army of the Maharaja of Gwalior after his armies deserted the rebel forces. They then occupied a strategic fort at Gwalior. However, on the 17th of June 1858[5], while battling in full warrior regalia against the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars in Kotah-ki Serai near the Phool Bagh area of Gwalior, she died. The British captured Gwalior three days later. In the British report of the battle, General Hugh Rose commented that the Rani, "remarkable for her beauty, cleverness and perseverance", had been "the most dangerous of all the rebel leaders".[6]

Nana Sahib (born 1824), born as Dhondu Pant(Marathi- ), was an Indian leader during the Rebellion of 1857. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha PeshwaBaji Rao II, he sought to restore the Maratha confederacy and the Peshwa tradition.

Early life
Nana Sahib was born as Dhondu Pant to Narayan Bhatt and Ganga Bai. In 1827, he was adopted by the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II. The East India Company exiled Baji Rao II to Bithoor near Cawnpore (now Kanpur), where Nana Sahib was brought up. Nana Sahib's close associates included Tantya Tope and Azimullah Khan; Tatya Tope was the son of Pandurang Rao Tmope, an important noble at the court of the Peshwa Baji Rao II. After Baji Rao was exiled to Bithoor, Pandurang Rao and his family also shifted there. [edit]Pension Through his adoption, Nana Sahib was heir-presumptive to the throne, and was eligible for an annual pension of 80,000 from the East India Company. However, after the death of Baji Rao II, the Company stopped the pension on the grounds that Nana Sahib was not a natural born heir. Nana Sahib was highly offended, and sent his envoy (Azimullah Khan) to England in 1853 to plead his case with the British Government. However, Azimullah Khan was unable to convince the British to resume the pension, and returned to India in 1855. [edit]Role

in the War of Independence of 1857

Main article: Siege of Cawnpore

[1]

He won the confidence of Charles Hillersdon, the collector of Cawnpore. It was planned that Nana Sahib would assemble

a force of 1,500 soldiers, in case the rebellion spread to Cawnpore.[2] On June 5, 1857, at the time of rebellion by forces of the East India Company at Cawnpore, the British contingent had taken refuge at an entrenchment in the southern part of the town. Amid the prevailing chaos in Cawnpore, Nana Sahib and his forces entered the British magazine situated in the northern part of the town. The soldiers of the 53rd Native Infantry, which was guarding the magazine, thought that Nana Sahib had come to guard the magazine on behalf of the British. However, once he entered the magazine, Nana Sahib announced that he was a participant in the rebellion against the British, and intended to be a vassal ofBahadur Shah II.[3] After taking possession of the Company treasury, Nana Sahib advanced up the Grand Trunk Road. He wanted to restore the Maratha confederacy under the Peshwa tradition, and decided to capture Cawnpore. On his way, Nana Sahib met the rebel Company soldiers at Kalyanpur. The soldiers were on their way to Delhi, to meet Bahadur Shah II. Nana Sahib wanted them to go back to Kanpur, and help him in defeating the British. The soldiers were reluctant at first, but decided to join Nana Sahib, when he promised to double their pay and reward them with gold, if they were to destroy the British entrenchment.