Gangadhar Rao

Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar was the 5th raja of Jhansi situated in northern India, a vassal of Maratha Empire. He was the son of Shiv Rao Bhau and a descendant of Raghunath Hari Newalkar (who was the first governor of Jhansi under Maratha rule).[2]

Gangadhar Rao
Jhansi Naresh Maharaja of Jhansi[1]
5th Maharaja of Jhansi
Reign	1843 - 21 November 1853
Predecessor	Raghunath Rao III [2]
Successor	Lakshmibai
Born	1797
Died	21 November 1853 (aged 56 or 57)[3] Jhansi, Jhansi State (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Spouse	Ramabai[4] Lakshmibai
Issue	Damodar Rao, Ananda Rao[3]
Full name Jhansi Naresh Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar[1][5]
Dynasty	Newalkar
Father	Shiv Rao Bhau[2]

Biography

The ancestors of Gangadhar Rao hailed from Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Some of them moved to Khandesh, when Peshwa rule began and served important posts in the Peshwa and Holkar armies. Raghunath Hari Newalkar strengthened Maratha polity in Bundelkhand, however as he grew old, he handed over the reins of Jhansi to his younger brother Shiv Rao Bhau. On the death of Raghunath Rao III in 1838, the British rulers accepted his brother Gangadhar Rao as the Raja of Jhansi in 1843.[6]

Chhatri (cenotaph) of Gangadhar Rao, the last Raja of Jhansi and husband of Rani Lakshmibai

He was an able administrator and he improved the financial condition of Jhansi, which had deteriorated during his predecessor’s rule. He took corrective steps to ensure the growth and development of the town of Jhansi. He controlled an army of around 5,000 men. He possessed wisdom, diplomacy, and was a lover of art and culture;[7] even the British were impressed by his statesmanlike qualities. Gangadhar Rao possessed considerable taste and some scholarship; he collected a fine library of Sanskrit manuscripts and enriched the architecture of the town of Jhansi.[8]

In May 1842, Gangadhar Rao married a young girl named Manikarnika, who was renamed as Laxmibai, who later became the Queen of Jhansi and revolted against the British during the uprising of 1857.[3] In September 1851, she gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, who died four months after birth. Raja Gangadhar Rao adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of his cousin Vasudev Newalkar, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before he died. The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter from the raja requesting that the child should be treated with kindness and that the government of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime. After the death of the raja in November 1853 because Damodar Rao was adopted, 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.

See also

• Maratha Empire
• Laxmibai, Queen of Jhansi
• History of India
• Jhansi

References

1. Rana, Bhawan Singh (2005). Rani of Jhansi. ISBN 9788128808753. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
2. Rana, Bhawan Singh (2005). Rani of Jhansi. ISBN 9788128808753. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
3. Agarwal, Deepa (8 September 2009). Rani Lakshmibai. ISBN 9788184758061. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
4. Tapti Roy (2006). Raj of the Rani. Penguin Books India. p. 32. ISBN 9780143062219.
5. Homans, Margaret; Munich, Adrienne; Beer, Gillian (2 October 1997). Remaking Queen Victoria - Google Books. ISBN 9780521574853. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
6. Edwardes Red Year (1975), p. 113
7. Ganguly, Kalpana (January 2009). Jhansi Ki Rani Laxmibai (English) - Kalpana Ganguly - Google Books. ISBN 9788188322053. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
8. Edwardes, Michael (1975) Red Year. London: Sphere Books; p. 113