InFacts about India-19 June 2021

Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi ( 19 Nov 1828 — 18 June 1858), was an Indian queen of the Maratha princely state of Jhansi in North India (present-day Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh, India).
She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance to the British Raj for Indian nationalists.

She was named Manikarnika Tambe and was nicknamed Manu. Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai).
Her parents came from Maharashtra. Her mother died when she was four years old. Her father was the Commander of the war of Kalyanpranth.

Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, in May 1842 and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai) in honour of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi and according to the Maharashtrian tradition of women being given a new name after marriage.

In September 1851, she gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, who died four months after birth. The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Rao’s cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao.

The British East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao’s claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories.

VEDIK GYAN

Kurma, ( “Tortoise”) one of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Shri Vishnu. During the time of churning of the ocean of milk (समुद्र मदन) The gods and the asuras (demons, or titans) cooperated in the churning to obtain amrita, the elixir of immortality.
They made Mount Mandara to be their churning rod and the great snake Vasuki to be their rope. But Mount Mandara started sinking during the time churning,

To prevent this, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a giant tortoise and held Mount Mandara up from underneath.

LEARN Sanskrit- श्वेता śwetā : “white”