London, Nov 17 (IANS) Scholars have found a previously unknown letter written by the Rani of Jhansi in what has been termed a 'hugely significant' discovery, the BBC reported Tuesday.

Lakshmibai wrote the letter shortly before the 1857 Indian mutiny.

The BBC said academics described the discovery of the letter as hugely significant, because there is little historical evidence from the Rani of Jhansi's lifetime.

The letter, written to Lord Dalhousie, the governor-general of the East India Company (EIC) and found in the archives of the British Library in London, is part of a collection of documents, photographs and memorabilia put together by the 19th century civil servant and author Lewin Bentham Bowring.

In the letter, Rani Jhansi describes the fateful events on the night her husband died, said Deepika Ahlawat, research curator for the Victoria and Albert Museum's Maharaja exhibition currently being staged in London.

Fearing the annexation of her kingdom under Dalhousie's infamous Doctrine of Lapse, Lakshmibai told the governor-general that her husband had performed all the necessary rites for the adoption of Damodar Rao Gangdhar as their son and the next Raja of Jhansi.

But Dalhousie did not recognise the adoption and threatened to annex Jhansi, prompting Lakshmibai to join the ranks of rebel-rulers in 1857.

'The story of a female leader battling for her kingdom against the might of the EIC fired the nationalistic imagination when the contested history of 1857 came to be written,' said Ahlawat.

'This a letter written by an iconic talisman for the nationalist narrative in India, and her equestrian statue can be found in town squares all over the country.'