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Letter of Rani of Jhansi found in British Library

LONDON: A letter written in Persian by Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, to the then Governor-General of the East India Company, Lord Dalhousie, has been discovered in the British Library.

The letter, found in the library’s archives, was written shortly before the start of India’s first war of independence in 1857.

“This is a letter written by an iconic talisman for the nationalist narrative in India. The letter is part of a collection of documents known as the Bowring Collection,” Deepika Ahlawat, research curator for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Maharaja exhibition currently being staged in London, told the BBC. The Rani wrote that her husband adopted a suitable heir before his death by performing all the necessary rites for her adopted son, Damodar Rao, to be accepted as the next Raja of Jhansi. — PTI

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Letter of Rani of Jhansi found in British Library

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