Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. We have a new podcast coming out
Speaker 1: on our network. It's called Unpopular and it is about resistors, revolutionaries,
Speaker 1: and other people who challenge the status quo. Eve's Jeff
Speaker 1: co will be hosting the show, and listeners may already
Speaker 1: know her from this day in History Class and we
Speaker 1: are both really excited about it, Yes for sure. And
Speaker 1: in the spirit of that theme, today we are returning
Speaker 1: to lash Me By Ronnie of John c and her
Speaker 1: role in the Indian Rebellion of eighteen fifty seven, which
Speaker 1: is also known as India's First War of Independence. This
Speaker 1: episode is from March of eleven with hosts Sarah and
Speaker 1: Bablina and then Holly and I also talked about the
Speaker 1: rebellion back in August of seen, but in that episode
Speaker 1: we didn't talk about locked me By or her role
Speaker 1: uh in it. Stay tuned at the end for a
Speaker 1: peak and Unpopular. You can also find that show or
Speaker 1: subscribe to it on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: Google Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome to
Speaker 1: the podcast I'm to bring a chalk rewarding And I'm
Speaker 1: Sarah down and Sarah and I have been talking a
Speaker 1: lot this month, since it's Women's History Month, about real
Speaker 1: life Amazon's and it's interesting. But when you're talking about
Speaker 1: female warriors, Joan of Arc is one who always comes up.
Speaker 1: She's kind of a big name among female warriors. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And in case you're not familiar, Joan of Arc, of course,
Speaker 1: is a national heroine in France for leading an army
Speaker 1: to several victories during the Hundred Years War, and she's
Speaker 1: also a Catholic saint. She said movies made about her,
Speaker 1: books written about her were famous way up there. But
Speaker 1: it's interesting. She's so famous that a lot of female
Speaker 1: warriors since then have been compared to her, and they've
Speaker 1: even earned the Joan of Arc nickname, you know, attached
Speaker 1: to whatever country they're from. They're they're quite a few
Speaker 1: of them, actually, Yeah. For example, Augustina Aragon is called
Speaker 1: Spanish Joan of Arc, and there's also a Vietnamese Joan
Speaker 1: of Arc. I think you guys have touched on her before,
Speaker 1: and if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure she predates
Speaker 1: Joan of Arc, which makes that kind of a strange
Speaker 1: title that you're you're getting that that nickname after the fact,
Speaker 1: but whatever, what are you gonna do? But this is
Speaker 1: all just to kind of set up to day's episode,
Speaker 1: which is about India's Joan of Arc, a woman named
Speaker 1: looks me By now Looks me By, who is also
Speaker 1: known as the Ronnie of John C. She became famous
Speaker 1: for her role in the Indian Mutiny of eighteen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: which is sometimes thought of as India's first war of
Speaker 1: independence from the British, of course, and her life is
Speaker 1: uniquely wrapped up in all the factors that led to
Speaker 1: this rebellion. So that's kind of why we wanted to
Speaker 1: focus on her out of all these other Joan of
Speaker 1: arcs today. Yeah, and I mean another interesting fact about
Speaker 1: her is she's still quite important in modern India. She's
Speaker 1: considered a national heroine and there are statues of her.
Speaker 1: Her story is told in things like novels and movies
Speaker 1: and ballads, just like just like Joan of Arc. I mean,
Speaker 1: how about that um illustrated comics. I mean, she she's
Speaker 1: a well known figure. Yeah, I think Prime Minister in
Speaker 1: the ra Gandhi even appeared as LOKs me By in
Speaker 1: a political commercial in the nineteen eighties, So she's kind
Speaker 1: of all over the place, all sort of different facets
Speaker 1: of of popular culture, and her story has become the
Speaker 1: stuff of legend. And as we know with legends, a
Speaker 1: lot of times, once history becomes legend, we sort of
Speaker 1: get a little murky on what's fact and what's fiction.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're gonna look at today. We're just
Speaker 1: really going to consider who is looked me by, what
Speaker 1: are the real facts about her? And why is she
Speaker 1: alternately known as India's Joan of Arc and India's Jezebel,
Speaker 1: depending on who you ask. But she' all didn't see
Speaker 1: that one coming. So we're gonna start at the beginning
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about her childhood because it really
Speaker 1: lays the pretty strong groundwork for the woman she become.
Speaker 1: She was born November nineteenth eighty seven to a Brahmin
Speaker 1: family in Banaras, which is in northern India, and it
Speaker 1: was a good family. It was even maybe a prominent family,
Speaker 1: but they didn't really have that much money, it seems,
Speaker 1: according to Rainier Juro's biography, The Ronnie of John C.
Speaker 1: Rebligance Will, they didn't have that much money because her
Speaker 1: parents had left their home in Maharashtra in central India
Speaker 1: in exile because the ruler there was banished by the British.
Speaker 1: So while they had been high ranking, and while her
Speaker 1: father had been high ranking, he might have had a
Speaker 1: little trouble re establishing himself in a new part of
Speaker 1: the country and never really attained that high an income. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that just kind of sets up her family for you.
Speaker 1: But Luxury by his original name was Moni Carnica, and
Speaker 1: her parents called her Manu. Now Mona's childhood was kind
Speaker 1: of unique for a little girl growing up in India
Speaker 1: around that time, and that's mainly because her mom, Voggy Rothy,
Speaker 1: passed away when she was about four years old, and
Speaker 1: her dad, more upon Thumbay, remained a widower for more
Speaker 1: than a decade. So really no big conservative corrective influence,
Speaker 1: that female influence in her life. Who would have put
Speaker 1: her on the path to I guess a more feminine upbringing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no one. They're telling her to stand up straight and
Speaker 1: behave and seems and she was naturally feisty. She was
Speaker 1: kind of a little tomboy, and because she didn't have
Speaker 1: this female influence in her life, she got to stay
Speaker 1: that way. She was allowed to stay that way. And
Speaker 1: some sources say that it was her dad who was
Speaker 1: actively encouraging that tomboyish behavior in her. You know, he
Speaker 1: was teaching her how to do things like ride horses
Speaker 1: and how to fence and shoot, and that was all
Speaker 1: part of her education. Other sources, such as Dross, suggests
Speaker 1: that her father really he just might have not been
Speaker 1: in the picture enough to be that closely watching her education. Yea,
Speaker 1: so she got to kind of run free she wanted.
Speaker 1: So what is known about her, though, regardless of what
Speaker 1: really happened, is that she became a very skilled writer
Speaker 1: and learned how to use weapons, and most likely did
Speaker 1: this before she got married, because it would have been
Speaker 1: very inappropriate for a woman who was her traditional maharaja's
Speaker 1: wife to um to do these things, especially because she
Speaker 1: quote rode a horse like a man. In addition to
Speaker 1: these manly skills, she also learned to read and write,
Speaker 1: which was still kind of unusual for girls at that
Speaker 1: run that time. Yeah, so you know, she comes out
Speaker 1: of this a young girl with unusual talents, and it
Speaker 1: seems like maybe some of this stuff would even dissuade
Speaker 1: potential suitors, but she does get married in eighteen forty two,
Speaker 1: she's about fifteen years old and she becomes the second
Speaker 1: wife of Gungatar Rao Nil Walker, who is a lot
Speaker 1: older than her. He's childless, but he is the Maharajah
Speaker 1: of John c which is a principality about two fifty
Speaker 1: miles southeast of Delhi. And just to give you a
Speaker 1: little background on terms we're going to be using, because
Speaker 1: I think from here on out we're pretty much going
Speaker 1: to be calling her Rani. Raja in India is a
Speaker 1: prance or a king of a particular area, and his
Speaker 1: wife is known as Ranie, so she's a queen or
Speaker 1: a princess. It's interesting that you mentioned that about how
Speaker 1: her behavior might dissuade potential suitors, because it's not really
Speaker 1: clear how the match got. The match between these two occurred.
Speaker 1: There's such an odd couple they really are, and her
Speaker 1: family really wasn't that wealthy. But here's one theory that's
Speaker 1: out there about why the Raja picked her. Apparently he
Speaker 1: had a tendency to cross dress, sometimes for theater roles
Speaker 1: when you played female roles, but sometimes not. Sometimes he
Speaker 1: would just wear women's jewelry around and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And since this was rather widely known at the time,
Speaker 1: it suggested that this may have limited his choices and
Speaker 1: second brides somewhat. So he may have had to settle
Speaker 1: for this um noble but not particularly well off bride.
Speaker 1: After her marriage, man who starts going by the name
Speaker 1: lux me By and this suggests a reverence for the
Speaker 1: Goddess of prosperity and happiness. So Luxmi was the patron
Speaker 1: deity of her husband's family, and this would have made
Speaker 1: sense for her to do, for her to change her
Speaker 1: name like this. Yeah, it was a good move, and
Speaker 1: she really did seem to embrace her role as Ronnie.
Speaker 1: She she sort of put aside what she was used
Speaker 1: to doing pretty easily, it seemed. And um tried really
Speaker 1: hard and for a very long time to have a
Speaker 1: child and an air and um it didn't happen. I
Speaker 1: think years and years went by, but finally lashed me
Speaker 1: By and the Rajah took a journey in eighteen fifty one,
Speaker 1: kind of a pilgrimage to sacred Hindu sites, and not
Speaker 1: long after that she got pregnant and gave birth to
Speaker 1: a son. And you can imagine this couple was incredibly
Speaker 1: excited now to finally have an air and a son
Speaker 1: at that. But unfortunately for them, that excitement didn't last
Speaker 1: very long because the baby die. It only three months old,
Speaker 1: and they didn't know why it happened. He just died suddenly,
Speaker 1: and and they were unfortunately not just in trouble for
Speaker 1: personal reasons after that. Yeah, I mean they're personally personally,
Speaker 1: they're grieving, but there are other consequences as well, and
Speaker 1: that's because of something called the Doctrine of Laps. They
Speaker 1: now have to worry about this too. So here's a
Speaker 1: little background of the Doctrine of Laps. It's a formula
Speaker 1: that was devised by Lord Delholsy, who was Governor General
Speaker 1: of India from around eighty eight to eighteen fifty six,
Speaker 1: and the doctrine it reflected this general desire on the
Speaker 1: part of the British to expand the territory that they
Speaker 1: had in India. And just to give you a little
Speaker 1: bit of background on I guess Indian custom before that,
Speaker 1: family politics, finally politics Exactly according to Indian tradition, a
Speaker 1: ruler who didn't have any natural errors could adopt a
Speaker 1: person who would then have all the personal and political
Speaker 1: rights of a son. So, for example, the Ronnie of
Speaker 1: John C himself had been an adopted heir, so there
Speaker 1: was precedent for it there. However, dal Halsy with this
Speaker 1: new doctrine, he basically asserted Great Britain's right as the
Speaker 1: paramount power to approve adoptions. So what it did is
Speaker 1: in practice it gave the British the opportunity to reject
Speaker 1: a lot of last minute adoptions and therefore take over
Speaker 1: this territory, yeah to step in and and collect land
Speaker 1: piece by piece, which was obviously what their greater policy
Speaker 1: was exactly, But this didn't stop the Ronnie and the
Speaker 1: Raja from trying to do the same thing. In eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty three, Gunga da Row becomes seriously ill and adopts
Speaker 1: a distant five year old cousin named the mad A
Speaker 1: Row as his son, and he draws up adoption papers
Speaker 1: and a will which named the boys the Air and
Speaker 1: the Ronnie as his regent, and he presents them to
Speaker 1: Major Ellis, who was serving as an assistant political agent
Speaker 1: at John C at the time, and this was all
Speaker 1: done on November eighteen fifty three. Unfortunately, though the Raja dies,
Speaker 1: the very next day. Yeah, so suddenly you have this
Speaker 1: kind of last minute paperwork that's just gone down. This
Speaker 1: British policy that doesn't really look that kindly on these adoptions,
Speaker 1: especially a last minute one like this. And um, it
Speaker 1: seems though that things might work out for a minute,
Speaker 1: because Ellis is sympathetic to the Ronnie and he forwards
Speaker 1: the information to his superior Major John Malcolm. But Malcolm,
Speaker 1: even though he's not that keen on the idea of
Speaker 1: the Ronnie being regent, he still describes her to Delousie
Speaker 1: as quote, a woman highly respected and esteemed and I
Speaker 1: believe fully capable of doing justice to such a charge.
Speaker 1: So it still seems like maybe the British are going
Speaker 1: to get behind this particular adoption at least. Yeah. Unfortunately, though,
Speaker 1: Dalhousie refuses to acknowledge them with our row as air
Speaker 1: and the new British Superintendent, Captain Alexander Sken comes to
Speaker 1: John C and takes control under the doctrine of laps
Speaker 1: without any opposition. So British are now in control, and
Speaker 1: it seems that the Ronnie is out of luck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the estates tied up and and she's allowed to keep
Speaker 1: the town palace as a personal residence, but she loses
Speaker 1: all of the country estate and she only gets this
Speaker 1: annual pension of about five thousand rupees and from that
Speaker 1: she's expected to pay her husband's debt. So not a
Speaker 1: good deal at all. So she doesn't accept it. No,
Speaker 1: she doesn't accept it right away. She keeps submitting letters
Speaker 1: to contest the doctrine of laps. She submits letters in December, February,
Speaker 1: April of that year, and she keeps submitting letters until
Speaker 1: I think early eighteen fifties six or so, so she
Speaker 1: doesn't give up. Most of these letters, however, aren't even
Speaker 1: forwarded to Lord's Ahousie, so she's not really being taken seriously.
Speaker 1: At this point, her attempts to get the air of
Speaker 1: British officials just it's falling on deaf years. It's not
Speaker 1: a luck, it seems. So she consults with the British
Speaker 1: Council John Lang, who is trying and trying to get
Speaker 1: her to read did this pension sheet that she wouldn't accept?
Speaker 1: And she says to him, and this has become kind
Speaker 1: of a famous quote. She says, Mary John Z now
Speaker 1: he doe and this means I will not give up,
Speaker 1: my john Z so's making a stand put her foot down. Um.
Speaker 1: But meanwhile, we're gonna catch you up with what's going
Speaker 1: on in the rest of India. There were tensions mounting
Speaker 1: among the Sea Boys, which were Indian troops in the
Speaker 1: British East India Company Army and m Actually Candis and
Speaker 1: Jane a very long time ago did an episode on
Speaker 1: the East India Company UM and they mentioned sea poison
Speaker 1: that so you could go learn a little bit extra
Speaker 1: about them. But on the surface, it seemed like the
Speaker 1: tensions that were mounting among these troops were caused by
Speaker 1: rumors at the time that the cartridges were newly issued
Speaker 1: Endfield rifles were greased with either cow or pig fat,
Speaker 1: and depending on whether you were a Hindu or a
Speaker 1: Muslim Sea Boy, that would be sacrilegious when you had
Speaker 1: to tear open the cartridges with teeth. Um. So the
Speaker 1: fear was that the British we're doing this on purpose.
Speaker 1: They knew that this was likely to cause religious related offense,
Speaker 1: and they were doing it to undermine the Sea Boys
Speaker 1: faith and eventually make it easier for them to convert
Speaker 1: them all to Christianity. Yeah, that was the rumor at
Speaker 1: the time, as you said, but historians tend to think
Speaker 1: that the tensions that were building up before this, they
Speaker 1: were more due to the so called reforms that were
Speaker 1: being made to Indian customs and culture around that time
Speaker 1: or in the years leading up to it. For example,
Speaker 1: widows being allowed to marry. That was something that was
Speaker 1: very radical change. UM land reform had displaced many landowners,
Speaker 1: So these things that the RANNIE was experiencing, others were
Speaker 1: experiencing them too, and they weren't happy. You can imagine
Speaker 1: how that would cause some pretty widespread discontent. So in
Speaker 1: Mirat on May nine, eighty five of these sea boys
Speaker 1: who refused to use the Endfield cartridges were tried and
Speaker 1: put into irons, and um that started off major rebellion.
Speaker 1: The next day, three regiments stormed the jail and killed
Speaker 1: the officers and their families, and they marched from there
Speaker 1: to Delhi, which was fifty miles away, and from there
Speaker 1: the Seapoint rebellion really just kind of spread, you know.
Speaker 1: It started as this localized incident, but it started to
Speaker 1: spring up elsewhere like little brush fires, and a few
Speaker 1: leaders took charge and transformed what had been a mutiny
Speaker 1: into an organized resistance. They were really going to give
Speaker 1: the British some trouble. Yeah, And eventually the mutiny made
Speaker 1: its way to John C too. On June six fifty seven,
Speaker 1: the troops at John C mutinied and shot their commanding officers,
Speaker 1: Captain Skeen. At this point he gathers all the Europeans
Speaker 1: in the city, which there were sixty six of them,
Speaker 1: and that included about half of them I think were
Speaker 1: women and children. They took refuge in the fort, which
Speaker 1: was pretty well designed as a defense. It could withstand
Speaker 1: a siege and it had an internal water supply, but
Speaker 1: they really didn't have that much food at all. So
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to be a long term solution to
Speaker 1: this standoff and afford to stay there long. So on
Speaker 1: June eighth, Skiing leads the British out of the fort
Speaker 1: and they were massacred. By June twelve, the mutineers had
Speaker 1: left John C for Delhi. So a bad situation, a
Speaker 1: very bad situation. And considering how unhappy that Ronnie had
Speaker 1: been with the government, many British people believe that she
Speaker 1: was behind the mutiny. Yeah, but there was never any
Speaker 1: real proof from this And as we're going to see.
Speaker 1: It certainly did not benefit her in any way, but
Speaker 1: still people were suspicious. This is where the jazz belt
Speaker 1: part of the title comes from. Um. So she sent
Speaker 1: a letter afterwards. You know, she knows that people are suspicious. Ever,
Speaker 1: so she sent a letter to the British authorities and
Speaker 1: she recounted everything that had happened to her, and she said, um,
Speaker 1: among a lot of other things, quote that they the
Speaker 1: mutineers afterwards behaved with much violence, that it's herself and
Speaker 1: her servants, and extorted a great deal of money from her. So,
Speaker 1: you know, basically just trying to make the point. They
Speaker 1: messed with me too. You know, I was not their leader.
Speaker 1: I didn't help get this whole thing going. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: she expresses it's a long letter and you can find
Speaker 1: excerpts on it in various essays and biographies, but she
Speaker 1: basically is like, hey, I'm sorry this happened to you.
Speaker 1: This is really sad, but my hands were tied. I
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything about it. She sends another letter later
Speaker 1: saying that there was anarchy in john Cy and she
Speaker 1: asked for orders from the British and they issued a
Speaker 1: proclamation authorizing the Ronnie to manage the district until they
Speaker 1: could send soldiers there to restore order. And I was
Speaker 1: really surprised by this part because up until now, you know,
Speaker 1: the British have been trying to strip her of any
Speaker 1: power she had, and here they are authorizing her to
Speaker 1: to raise an army. Pretty amazing. Yeah, I think it shows,
Speaker 1: you know, that they did think that she had some brains,
Speaker 1: they had some respect for her. They just didn't want
Speaker 1: her to actually have any land. Yeah, in absence of
Speaker 1: any other British option, we will let you run the
Speaker 1: place for a little while until we get there. But
Speaker 1: you know, in general, but she does start building up
Speaker 1: this army while managing the district, and presumably at this
Speaker 1: point it is to defend John C from neighboring districts
Speaker 1: and rebels, maybe a distant claimant to the throne, you know,
Speaker 1: just anybody who might come and cause trouble. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: according to military history, some of her troops included mutineers
Speaker 1: from the former John C. Garrison, which is kind of suspicious,
Speaker 1: I guess, and probably didn't help her cause and trying
Speaker 1: to convince people that she wasn't responsible right then. Jaroch
Speaker 1: also says that her army included some women too, and
Speaker 1: that this was an indicator of how devoted and loyal
Speaker 1: her subjects were to her, because they were willing to
Speaker 1: cast aside tradition to fight with her. Speaking of tradition,
Speaker 1: we need to mention the appearance of this woman too
Speaker 1: and her mannerisms, because she she cut quite a figure,
Speaker 1: I mean to to say the least, she's been described
Speaker 1: as being fair and handsome, even though according to most
Speaker 1: of the British Men who described her, her face was
Speaker 1: a little on the round side. Um. But she quote
Speaker 1: had a noble presence and figure and a stern expression.
Speaker 1: And instead of following the traditional customs of widows at
Speaker 1: the time and dressing all in white and not wearing
Speaker 1: any jewelry, she came out wearing men's clothes sometimes, this
Speaker 1: coat of dark blue, a beautiful turban on her head,
Speaker 1: and this embroidered cloth around her waist, and jeweled a
Speaker 1: jeweled sword. I mean, she she must have been pretty
Speaker 1: amazing looking, especially out leading an army. Yeah, definitely, and
Speaker 1: she I guess had some moves to People have said
Speaker 1: that they've you know, they saw her practicing her skills
Speaker 1: on her back and with their weapons out. Um. You
Speaker 1: know while she was getting this army together, and one
Speaker 1: of her signature moves which I love, I think I
Speaker 1: was trying to remember this for you earlier but couldn't
Speaker 1: remember it. It It was that she would be on a
Speaker 1: horse and twirling a saber in each hand with the
Speaker 1: reins of the horse and her teeth so very skilled. Indeed,
Speaker 1: that would be really scary if you if you saw
Speaker 1: someone coming with two sabers. Yeah. I didn't worry about
Speaker 1: my teeth, though, I hope that were me to you
Speaker 1: might like go over a little bump or something. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But she had bigger problems though, than her teeth. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was not her top concern. That was not her
Speaker 1: top concern. And I mean, if you wanted to show
Speaker 1: people you were tough, hey, that's the way to do it.
Speaker 1: Suffice to say, she soon got the opportunity to show
Speaker 1: off her skills in January, Major General Sir he Rose,
Speaker 1: who ends up being named as her major opponent in
Speaker 1: this whole affair. I think march towards the city with
Speaker 1: soldiers and as eight is February, the Ronnie told her
Speaker 1: British advisors that she would in fact return the district
Speaker 1: to the British when they got there, so their army exactly.
Speaker 1: She didn't seem this is a relief she's been waiting for, right, um,
Speaker 1: so not confrontational at this point. But that's not really happened.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a nice handoff, was it. It's not how
Speaker 1: Rose treats the situation at all. On March fifty eight,
Speaker 1: Rose and his forces attacked Johncy and again, according to
Speaker 1: military history, luxmi By resisted because she wasn't sure if
Speaker 1: she was going to be executed if she was captured.
Speaker 1: I think she really believed that the British, after all,
Speaker 1: they still weren't really happy with her after the mutiny
Speaker 1: and really blamed her for it. Still many of them did,
Speaker 1: the officials at least, and and clearly the relations between
Speaker 1: her and the British were muddled to say the least.
Speaker 1: I mean, she didn't know what exactly was going on.
Speaker 1: So by March thirty, most of the Ronnie's guns were
Speaker 1: disabled and the fort's walls had been breached, and by
Speaker 1: April three, the British broke into the city and they
Speaker 1: took the palace and storm the fort, but she got out.
Speaker 1: She escaped on horseback in the night before that final assault.
Speaker 1: And this is the amazing part. And if you if
Speaker 1: you look up a picture of her, you'll see dramatizations
Speaker 1: of this, not entirely accurate ones. But she escapes into
Speaker 1: the night on horseback with her ten year old adopted
Speaker 1: son strapped her back. I think he mentioned that she
Speaker 1: knew she was going to have to ride too fast
Speaker 1: to just have him sitting in front of her strapped
Speaker 1: her back. Yeah. I mean, this is where you see
Speaker 1: a lot of the legend come in. You'll hear many
Speaker 1: different accounts of how this escape might have occurred, but
Speaker 1: in general we think that he was strapped to her back,
Speaker 1: tied to her with a sash, and that she and
Speaker 1: a bunch maybe up to three hundred of her troops
Speaker 1: escaped in the middle of the night. And it's all
Speaker 1: a little bit sketchy because how did they get past
Speaker 1: the British troops, But maybe they were just confused in
Speaker 1: the dark. Yeah, But I mean, once the Ronnie is out,
Speaker 1: she rode like the wind because she was afraid that
Speaker 1: the British were after her. And it's that she wrote
Speaker 1: anywhere from eighty six to ninety three miles and twenty
Speaker 1: four hours to get all the way to the fortress
Speaker 1: of Kalpi, where she joined up with some of the
Speaker 1: other resistance leaders Yeah nanasa Heb raw Saheb, and thought
Speaker 1: the ape. These were well known resistance leaders. They had
Speaker 1: been involved in other mutinies elsewhere in India going on
Speaker 1: at the time, and so they grouped together, joined forces
Speaker 1: at Um and they faced the British in two consecutive
Speaker 1: battles Um starting from Kalpi, one on May six but
Speaker 1: which they were forced to retreat from, and another one
Speaker 1: where they were defeated again on May twenty two or
Speaker 1: twenty third somewhere around there. The British thought that was
Speaker 1: the end at that point, but that wasn't actually the case.
Speaker 1: On May thirty, the rebels reached Gualier, which controlled both
Speaker 1: the Grand Trunk Road and the telegraph lines between Agra
Speaker 1: and Bombay. There they met Joigi raw Shindia, the Maharaja
Speaker 1: of Gwalior, and he was a British loyalist and actually
Speaker 1: tried to stop them at this point. He tried to
Speaker 1: kind of push the rebels back and not let them in,
Speaker 1: but his troops ended up switching sides and he had
Speaker 1: to flee to Agra. So at this point, the rebels
Speaker 1: have control of Gualier. Yeah, pretty big bunch of them
Speaker 1: too by now, and on June Sixte Rosa's forces close
Speaker 1: in though, So it's important to note up until this point,
Speaker 1: lacked me By had not been out at the head
Speaker 1: of these rebel battles, but she was the one who
Speaker 1: led what remained of her John C. Contingent out to
Speaker 1: to stop Rose's forces on Gwalior. She went out to
Speaker 1: battle dressed in male clothing. She had on the red
Speaker 1: uniform of a cavalry officer. She was wearing a white
Speaker 1: turban over her short hair. She really cut quite an
Speaker 1: inspiring figure. But during the battle she was shot from
Speaker 1: her horse and killed, and it's believed that she was
Speaker 1: cremated really soon after that because she was terrified that
Speaker 1: her body would fall into British hands and and not
Speaker 1: be treated respectfully. And after her death, Gwalier fell pretty
Speaker 1: soon after that, and the organized rebellion really fizzled out.
Speaker 1: And even though lashed me By herself did not really
Speaker 1: win any of these battles, it seems like her personality
Speaker 1: and her bravery really left a big impression on people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really that, I think, as you mentioned her personality
Speaker 1: that's really made her a symbol of the fight for
Speaker 1: Indian independence. And at the time, I think it was
Speaker 1: sort of true as well. I mean, British newspapers proclaimed
Speaker 1: looked me by the Jezebel of India. But even Sir
Speaker 1: Hugh Rose, her big rival in this whole battle, compared
Speaker 1: his fallen adversary to Joan of Arc. So that's, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe one of the first places that we see that.
Speaker 1: And he reported her death to William Augustus, Duke of
Speaker 1: Cumberland in this way, he said, the Ronnie is remarkable
Speaker 1: for her bravery, cleverness and perseverance. Her generosity to her
Speaker 1: subordinates was unbounded. These qualities, combined with her rank, rendered
Speaker 1: her the most dangerous of all rebel leaders. And I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting. And I mentioned this a minute
Speaker 1: ago when we were talking about how strange it is
Speaker 1: that they gave her, they gave her permission to raise
Speaker 1: an army in the first place, but that they would
Speaker 1: be so disrespectful of her claims yet so admiring of her,
Speaker 1: her personality and her her capability. I just think it's um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's sad. Yeah, it's a huge contradiction,
Speaker 1: but I mean, I think we see that a lot
Speaker 1: throughout women's history, and Rose had more praise for her,
Speaker 1: and maybe somewhat dubious praise, I guess, depending on how
Speaker 1: you like to study your women's history. He said. Although
Speaker 1: she was a lady, she was the bravest and best
Speaker 1: military leader of the rebels, a man among the mutineers.
Speaker 1: So his highest compliment was comparing her to a man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so does the popular folk song. But I think
Speaker 1: that it might put it a little a little better better, Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely more exciting. Right, So the folk song goes, how
Speaker 1: valiantly like a man thought she the Ronnie of John C.
Speaker 1: On every parapet, a gun, cheese set, raining fire of hell.
Speaker 1: How well like a man thought the Ronnie of John C.
Speaker 1: How valiantly and well, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: us on this Saturday. If you have heard an email
Speaker 1: address or a Facebook you are l or something similar
Speaker 1: over the course of today's episode. Since it is from
Speaker 1: the archive that might be out of date now, you
Speaker 1: can email us at History Podcast at how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com, and you can find us all over social
Speaker 1: media at missed in History, and you can subscribe to
Speaker 1: our show on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff
Speaker 1: you missed Industry Classes a production of I Heart Radios
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more podcasts. For my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Imagine for a moment
Speaker 1: a world where nobody ever questioned the way things are,
Speaker 1: one where no person ever challenged common thought or believed
Speaker 1: in thinking beyond the limitations of contemporary knowledge, where no
Speaker 1: one ever had the guts to propose new ideas for
Speaker 1: fear of being shunned or killed. Without protest, there would
Speaker 1: be no progress. I for one, am thankful that there
Speaker 1: were plenty of people in history who refused to accept
Speaker 1: the conventions of their times, people like Galileo, who was
Speaker 1: punished and confined for suggesting facts that other people couldn't fathom,
Speaker 1: and Fumilao Ransom Coutie, who stood up for women in
Speaker 1: Nigeria when their needs were being ignored when they were alive.
Speaker 1: Their idea is their actions. Their audacity was despised by
Speaker 1: so many people. Of course, they had supporters, but their
Speaker 1: opposition made them targets of hate and state sanctioned denouncement.
Speaker 1: Even though their descent was based in research and experience
Speaker 1: and driven by desire for meaningful change, they still need
Speaker 1: lots of enemies for it. It's human nature to value
Speaker 1: stability and patterns. It makes sense for us to be
Speaker 1: resistant to change and being wrong just sucks. But change
Speaker 1: is inevitable and we have to think forward if we're
Speaker 1: going to move forward, even if it costs us. I'm
Speaker 1: eve chef cook. Every week on Unpopular will reach back
Speaker 1: into the past to tell the story of someone who
Speaker 1: challenged the status quo, connecting the dots between their history
Speaker 1: and the history that we're making today. We can be
Speaker 1: so quick to dismiss people's ideas when they seem too big,
Speaker 1: don't align with how we see the world, make us uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: or shatter our pride or power. It's easy to reject change,
Speaker 1: it's harder to be open to new ideas, and often
Speaker 1: it's hard to be the person who is calling for
Speaker 1: meaningful change in the face of people who can be arrogant, stubborn,
Speaker 1: and unwilling to accept that change. But somebody has to
Speaker 1: do it, and sometimes it pays off. Is it worth
Speaker 1: it to speak out when it feels like the world
Speaker 1: is against you. The first episode of Unpopular comes out
Speaker 1: on ma After that, you can look forward to a
Speaker 1: new episode every Tuesday. Click the subscribe button in the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast to make sure you don't miss a single episode.