Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne d'Arc of India

White, MichaelProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
414K words
Chapters
42

Tags

English Originals World HistoryHistorical Figures Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyLegendary LivesHeroismTurbulent EraFemale Perspective

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D'Arc of India by Michael WhiteAuthor: White, Michael,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 2, 2013

Editor's review

Subtitled “The Jeanne d’Arc of India,” this biography recounts the life of Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, during the nineteenth-century Indian Rebellion. The author paints a romanticized portrait of a resolute and steadfast woman leader; the narrative moves like a novel and suits readers who wish to enter modern Indian history through a personal story. Battle scenes and emotional passages are plentiful and vivid, but as a work of history its literary embellishments must be weighed by the reader and it should not be treated as a strict historical source. It works best as an introduction to the symbolic figure of the Rani of Jhansi; read alongside more rigorous histories of modern India, it makes the gap between fact and legend clearer. Readers interested in women’s history and in themes of colonialism and resistance will also find material for discussion.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction or ending first to understand the author's stance and the book's context, then move into the main narrative.
  2. Flag literary passages and factual claims as you read, and compare them with reliable sources afterward.
  3. Read alongside a general history of modern India to fill in the era of the rebellion and the forces involved.
  4. Take notes on how the image of a woman leader is constructed, useful for discussion or writing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42

FAQ

Is this book historically reliable? The narrative is markedly romanticized and novelistic; dialogue, inner thoughts and scene descriptions are largely literary inventions and should not be cited as strict historical evidence. It works better as an introduction to the legendary image of the Rani of Jhansi; for research or writing, verify against scholarly works with notes and citations.
Why is the Rani of Jhansi called "the Jeanne d'Arc of India"? The subtitle borrows the French saint Joan of Arc as an analogy to highlight Lakshmi Bai's symbolic significance as a woman leader in national resistance. The comparison is chiefly rhetorical and promotional, helping Western readers form a quick impression; it does not mean the two are directly equivalent in historical context or deed.
Can I understand it without a background in Indian history? Yes. The book follows the protagonist's life in a coherent narrative that does not require specialist knowledge. However, background on princely states and the role of the East India Company in nineteenth-century India is limited, so readers who want to understand causes should supplement with general history.
How difficult is the English original? The text is in English, novelistic in style, with long sentences and rich descriptive vocabulary—moderate overall difficulty. There are many personal, place and institutional terms that may need looking up. Readers with general English proficiency can get through it; a dictionary or a translation will make it easier.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

White, Michael Author

Michael White is the author's name, but public sources provide little confirmed information about his nationality, dates of birth and death, or educational background, and available Chinese-language material on him is quite limited. Our library holds one work by him, Lachmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi: The Jeanne D'Arc of India, which recounts the story of Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi, during the Indian Rebellion. The author juxtaposes this female leader with Joan of Arc, using an image familiar to Western readers to highlight her bravery and martyrdom. This suggests a writing style that emphasizes narrative presentation of historical figures and cross-cultural analogy to bring the subject closer to readers. Given the limited material, a full picture of his work and scholarly standing requires further verification.