Rani Laxmi Bai rose out in protest when the East India Company refused to recognise her adopted son Damodar Rao as heir. She experienced several victories and escapes before her death in 1858 in Phool Bagh, Gwalior.
When the British deemed her husband King Vikramaditya Singh insane and her two sons ineligible to inherit the kingdom, Rani Avanti Bai responded by expelling the British governor from Ramgarh and taking the regency of the throne.
Begum Hazrat Mahal is the most famous of the last king of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah’s wives as she chose to defy the colonialists. She crowned her son the heir to the throne, ruled as the regent and defeated the British capturing Lucknow.
Rani Velu Nachiyar, the queen of the Sivaganga estate, was the first Indian queen to declare war against the East India Company in India. She battled the East India Company with Hyder Ali’s army, feudal lords, the Maruthu Brothers, Dalit leaders, and Thandavarayan Pillai.
Kittur Chennamma was the Indian queen of Kittur, a former princely state in modern-day Karnataka. In order to keep control of her realm, she launched a military revolt against the British East India Company, defying the Paramountcy.
Rani Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century. The Portuguese made several attempts to capture Ullal as it was strategically placed. But Abbakka repulsed each of their attacks for over four decades.