• Gandhi's South Africa home sold

• Rani of Jhansi's letter in UK library

A letter written in Persian by Lakshmibai, 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 archives of the library 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 BBC. "The collection is named after Lewin Bentham Bowring, a civil servant working in India who gathered a remarkable collection of documents, photographs and ephemera relating to the maharajas," she said. In the letter, the Rani of Jhansi describes the fateful events on the night her husband died. Ahlawat said: "But under the doctrine of lapse then being imposed by the EIC, any Indian kingdom whose ruler died without an heir, or who was guilty of misrule - was subsumed into Company territory." Lakshmibai 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. But Lord Dalhousie did not recognise the adoption and threatened to annex Jhansi. In 1857 the Rani joined the rebellion against the British and led her troops in battle.

Courtesy: www.indianexpress.com, November 18, 2009

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A French tourism company has bought a house in South Africa where Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi lived.
Voyageurs du Monde is believed to have paid $377,029 for the house, outbidding many others including Indian bidders. The Johannesburg house was put up for sale after the owner said she failed to find an institution interested in preserving the building's legacy. Gandhi lived there for three years from 1907 when he began to formulate his philosophy of non-violent resistance. According to reports, Voyageurs du Monde plans to turn the property - informally called "the Kraal" - into a Gandhi museum. Gandhi lived in South Africa for 21 years, working as a lawyer and activist. He fought for the right of Indians in the country to be treated as citizens - a feat he eventually achieved before returning to his homeland. Mahatma Gandhi is revered as the father of the Indian nation and his philosophy of non-violence has won him followers around the world. American artist Nancy Ball has lived in Gandhi's Johannesburg house for 25 years, but is now moving away. She told South African paper, The Times, that Indians who had visited the house had always found it an interesting experience. "We believe he left a lot of his peace here. It's a very special place," she said.

Courtesy: http://bbc.co.uk, October 8, 2009

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