too was Rani
His women
placed in the
Mughal harem.
Parvati, Bir Singh's widow, who
died of her wounds. A more
terrible fate awaited the captive
ladies who survived: mothers
and daughters of kings, they were robbed of
their religion, and forced to lead the infamous
life of the Mughal harem,[1]—to be the unloved
plaything of their master's passion for a day or
two and then to be doomed to sigh out their days
like bondwomen, without knowing the dignity
of a wife or the joy of a mother. Sweeter far
for them would have been death from the hands
of their dear ones than submission to a race that
knew no generosity to the fallen, no chivalry to the weaker sex.
Children converted to Islam. Three captives of tender age, (two sons and one grandson of Jhujhar,) were made Musal- mans. Another son, Udaybhan, and Shyam Dawa the old and faithful minister of the house, who had taken refuge in Golkonda and been delivered to Shah Jahan, refused to apostatize and were executed in cold blood.[2]
The fort of Jhansi, with its big guns and war