HistoryModern India: Rebels and the Raj

In popular prints, Rani Lakshmi Bai is usually portrayed in battle ar…

In popular prints, Rani Lakshmi Bai is usually portrayed in battle armour, with a sword in hand and riding a horse. What does this image stand for?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → The determination to resist injustice and alien rule

Option (1) The right of adopted heirs to succeed to the throne — Incorrect. Jhansi was annexed when the British refused to accept her adopted son, but the prints stand for resistance, a wider idea than that legal claim.

Option (2) The loyalty of the princely states to the Mughal emperor — Incorrect. The prints show her fighting the British. Loyalty to the Mughal emperor is a different theme.

Option (3) The determination to resist injustice and alien rule — Correct. In nationalist imagery the armed Rani on horseback is <strong>a symbol of the determination to resist injustice and alien rule</strong>.

Option (4) The return of the old order of kings and taluqdars — Incorrect. Bringing back the old rulers is a different aim. The image stands for resistance to foreign rule.

NCERT (2026-27): “5.6 Nationalist imageries …
Heroic poems were written about the valour of the queen who, with a sword in one hand and the reins of her horse in the other, fought for the freedom of her motherland. Rani of Jhansi was represented as a masculine figure chasing the enemy, slaying British soldiers and valiantly fighting till her last. Children in many parts of India grow up reading the lines of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan: “Khoob lari mardani woh to Jhansi wali rani thi” (Like a man she fought, she was the Rani of Jhansi). In popular prints Rani Lakshmi Bai is usually portrayed in battle armour, with a sword in hand and riding a horse – a symbol of the determination to resist injustice and alien rule.”