Rani of Jhansi

Born Manikarnika Tambe into a Marathi family in Varanasi in the late 1820s or 1835, she married the raja of Jhansi young and took the name Rani Lakshmibai. When their son died and her husband adopted a relative on his deathbed in 1853, the British East India Company refused to recognise the succession and annexed Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse, ignoring her protests to Lord Dalhousie. After Indian troops mutinied and massacred the British in Jhansi in May 1857 - her role in the massacre contested then and now - she took command, recruited an army, and held off neighbouring states. The British decided to treat her as an enemy: Major General Hugh Rose besieged and captured Jhansi in March and April 1858. She escaped on horseback, joined other rebel leaders at Kalpi where Rose defeated them on 22 May, then fled to Gwalior Fort for a final stand. She died there in battle on 18 June 1858, and her legend, shaped by Hindu mythology, became the template for Indian nationalism - revered across the independence movement and in modern India, though Dalit communities view her differently.