The Rani of Jhansi and the 1857 Mutiny

McCracken’s major ally in his new adventure, McCracken and the Lost Fortress, is Lakshmi Varanasi, the Rani (or Queen) of Jhansi. India is really more like a continent than a single, unified country, especially when we look back to the nineteenth century, with numerous kingdoms and princely states, rules by rajas, maharajas, nawabs, and other princes. These states fought one another, forged alliances with one another, intermarried with one another. When the British arrived in India, they transformed that political world.

Now, one surprising feature of the British in India is that much of its administration was carried out by the East India Company rather than directly by the British Crown. Originally, the Company had been a private trading enterprise, but it eventually became a territorial power in its own right. The East India Company saw India as an investment, and they protected their investment by hiring their own army to keep the peace. Company rule generated deep resentment, particularly through conquest, annexation, taxation, and interference with religious life.

One of the Company’s annexation policies was called the Doctrine of Lapse. What it meant was that, if the ruler of a princely state died without a natural male heir, his property could be annexed by the East India Company. One of the most controversial applications of this doctrine was the kingdom of Jhansi, whose raja had died, leaving his adopted son as his heir. But the Company refused to recognize his claim and annexed Jhansi in 1854. His adoptive mother, the widowed queen Lakshmibai did not intend to give up her kingdom without a struggle, and so she initially made a legal attempt to retain her state. An Australian lawyer, John Lang, wrote of this legal attempt in his book At the Court of the Rani of Jhansi. Lang knew, as Lakshmibai did not, that her claim was futile. But if she was powerless for the moment, events were building that would launch her in an unexpected direction.

Resentment against the Company came to a head when the army in India was issued with the new Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle. Its cartridges were wrapped in paper, which the rifleman was expected to tear apart with his teeth to load. The cartridges were greased to make them easier to load. A rumour spread that the grease used was from cows or pigs. This was offensive to Hindus, to whom the cow was sacred, and to Muslims, who considered pigs to be unclean. Both Hindus and Muslims formed a large portion of the Company’s Army in India.

On May 10, 1857, the sepoys—Indian soldiers serving in the Company’s army—in Meerut rebelled after some of their comrades had been jailed for refusing to use the new cartridges. The rebels marched on Delhi, then fighting spread across all of northern India, including Jhansi, where Lakshmibai defended the city and escaped on horseback when it fell, only to be killed in June of the following year in fighting near Gwalior. In Kanpur, British women and children who surrendered to the rebels were murdered, fueling demands for revenge. In return, British forces committed brutal reprisals.

The rebellion did not unite all Indians against the British. Many Indian troops and allied rulers supported the Company, while the British brought in reinforcements from other parts of the Empire. The rebels lacked a unified command, and British-led forces gradually regained control. The major rebel forces were defeated in 1858, although hostilities were not formally declared over until 1859.

In 1858, the British Parliament abolished the East India Company’s authority in India, reorganizing it under the direct control of the British Government. Queen Victoria promised India religious toleration, equal justice under the law, and respect for the rights of the Indian princes.

Against this historical background move the characters in McCracken and the Lost Fortress. In the novel, the Mutiny is long over, though its effects are still felt; there is a new Rani of Jhansi, though her political power is curtailed and she commands far less wealth than her famous predecessor; and the appearance of strange vessels in Bombay Harbour and the abduction of a British scientist has left the governing powers in India with a puzzle only McCracken can solve.