>Johnsoniensis at 07:47, 8 July 2021

2021-07-08T07:47:41Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Gangadhar Rao
| image = Gangadhar Rao alias Babasaheb Newalkar.jpg
| caption =
| image_size =
| reign = 1843-November 21, 1853
| full name = Jhansi Naresh Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar<ref name="books.google.co.in">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0hKthqa2kkQC&q=jhansi+naresh&pg=PA39|title=Rani of Jhansi|isbn=9788128808753|access-date=23 August 2015|last1=Rana|first1=Bhawan Singh|year=2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yC4n0FfjVB0C&q=gangadharrao+newalkar&pg=PA125 |title=Remaking Queen Victoria - Google Books |date=1997-10-02 |isbn=9780521574853 |access-date=2018-09-27|last1=Homans |first1=Margaret |last2=Munich |first2=Adrienne |last3=Beer |first3=Gillian }}</ref>
|spouse = [[#Newalkar#Queens|Ramabai]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNn0_j-qs-kC&pg=PA32|title=Raj of the Rani|author=Tapti Roy|publisher=Penguin Books India|year=2006|page=32|isbn=9780143062219}}</ref> <br/>[[Rani of Jhansi|Lakshmibai]]
| birth_date = 1797
| predecessor =Raghunath Rao III <ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0hKthqa2kkQC&q=gangadhar+rao+jhansi&pg=PA26|title=Rani of Jhansi|isbn=9788128808753|access-date=23 August 2015|last1=Rana|first1=Bhawan Singh|year=2005}}</ref>
| successor =[[Rani of Jhansi|Lakshmibai]]
|dynasty = [[Newalkar]]
| succession = 5th [[Jhansi State|Maharaja of Jhansi]]
| birth_place =
| death_date = November 21, 1853 (aged 56 or 57)<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h747vxHZd9wC&q=gangadhar+rao+jhansi+born&pg=PT113|title=Rani Lakshmibai|isbn=9788184758061|access-date=23 August 2015|last1=Agarwal|first1=Deepa|date=8 September 2009}}</ref>
| title = Jhansi Naresh <br> Maharaja of Jhansi<ref name="books.google.co.in"/>
| father = Shiv Rao Bhau<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
|mother = Padma Bai
| issue = Damodar Rao, Anand Rao<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
|death_place = [[Jhansi]], [[Jhansi State]] (present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]])
}}
'''Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar''' was the 5th [[raja]] of [[Jhansi State|Jhansi]] situated in northern [[India]], a vassal of [[Maratha Empire]]. He was a Maratha. 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).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==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.<ref name=e>Edwardes ''Red Year'' (1975), p. 113</ref>

[[File:Gangadarrao.jpg|thumb|left|[[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;<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WdKUn_8-Cz4C&q=gangadhar+rao+jhansi&pg=PA18 |title=Jhansi Ki Rani Laxmibai (English) - Kalpana Ganguly - Google Books |date= January 2009|isbn=9788188322053 |access-date=2018-09-27|last1=Ganguly |first1=Kalpana }}</ref> 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.<ref>Edwardes, Michael (1975) ''Red Year''. London: Sphere Books; p. 113</ref>

He was first married to Ramabai, who died soon.She never became queen consort of Jhansi as Gangadhar started to hold the title of Raja (King) in 1843, after Ramabai's death. In May 1842, Gangadhar Rao married a young girl named [[Manikarnika Tambe]], who was renamed as [[Rani of Jhansi|Laxmibai]], who was directly given the title of Rani (Queen Consort) after marriage and she later eventually became the Queen of Jhansi and revolted against the British during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In September 1851, she gave birth to a boy, 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 of Jhansi|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]]
*[[Rani of Jhansi|Laxmibai, Queen of Jhansi]]
*[[History of India]]
*[[Jhansi]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Newalkar Dynasty]]||||}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Raghunath Rao III]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Jhansi State|Maharaja of Jhansi]]|years=1838-1853}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Doctrine of Lapse|Abolished taken over by British]]}}
{{s-end}}

[[category:1797 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Maratha Empire]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:History of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:People from Jhansi]]

Gangadhar Rao - Revision history

>Johnsoniensis at 07:47, 8 July 2021