Q1.
Solve the riddle given below and share your answer with your classmates and the teacher. She was a queen who led the fight, / She fought for her country and her right. / With a shining sword in her hand, / Her son on her back in a cloth band / Remembered as a warrior grand, / She died defending her beloved Motherland. Who is she?
Answer
She is Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.
| Clue | What it points to |
|---|---|
| “a queen who led the fight… fought for her country and her right” | Lakshmibai refused to surrender Jhansi to the British after the Doctrine of Lapse |
| “With a shining sword in her hand” | She is always shown on horseback, sword drawn |
| “Her son on her back in a cloth band” | The best-known detail of her story — she rode into battle with her young son Damodar Rao tied to her back |
| “She died defending her beloved Motherland” | She fell in battle near Gwalior in 1858, aged about 29 |
Look at the illustration below the riddle on page 206 — a queen on a rearing white horse, sword raised, a child held at her back. It matches the riddle line by line.
Why this riddle opens a lesson about Rani Abbakka: it puts you in mind of India's warrior queens before you meet one you may never have heard of. Abbakka Devi of Ullal fought the Portuguese nearly three hundred years before Lakshmibai fought the British — and, as you will read, she won.