Rani Chennamma

 

Rani Chennamma

In Indian history there are many complex belief, myth, and rituals that don’t allow gender equality. Beside that there are some Indian women who shone as a beacon of hope and courage under great odds to millions of women all over the world. I found one such truly inspiring woman who is the first female rulers to rebel against British rule and she has become a folk hero in Karnataka and symbol of independence movement in India.  In this article I am going to introduce that wonder woman a warrior who made his existence by fighting against the British and her name is Kittur Chennamma.

 Kittur Chennamma was born on 23 October 1778, in Kakati, small village in the present Belagavi District of Karnataka, India. She belonged to Lingayat community and received training in horse riding, sword fighting and archery from young age. She was well known in his village for her bravery.

She was married to Mallasarja Desai, the King of Kittur at age of 15 and became the Queen of Kittur. She had one son from that marriage. Her husband died in 1816 after few years her son also died in 1824. This was the beginning of a fight, first against destiny and then against British. So all Rani Chennamma was left with the state of Kittur and uphills task to save it from British. After that she single handedly manage all his empire which is legendary and something that can never forget.

After the death of her husband and only son, Rani Chennamma adopted Shivalingappa in the year 1824 and made him the prince to the throne. The irked , the East Indian Company , who ordered Shivalingappa’s  expulsion , on the pretext of the Doctrine of Lapse was introduced by Lord Dalhousie , then the Governor General , to annex independent India states in 1848 A.D.

Kittur Chennamma, however, defined the British order to expel Shivalingappa from the throne. She then sent a letter to the Governor of Bombay to urge the cause of Kittur but Lord Elphinstone turned down Chennamma request. The state of Kittur came under the administration of Dharwad collectorate in charge of Mr. Thackeray, and Mr. Chaplin was the commissioner. Both men did not recognize Chennamma as the regent and Shivalingappa as the ruler and apprised Rani Chennamma to surrender her kingdom, but she again defied the British order. This led to the breakout of a war.

 The British attempted to rob Kittur’s treasures and jewels, which valued around 15 lakh rupees, but were unsuccessful. They had attacked Kittur with a force of 20,000 men and 400 guns, which came mainly from the third troop of the Madras Native Horse Artillery. In the first battle between the British and Kittur, on October of 1824, British forces faced heavy losses. St. John Thackeray, the British collector and political agent, was also killed during this first battle by the Kittur forces. Rani Chennamma’s lieutenant, Amatur Balappa, was mainly responsible for Thackeray’s death and the losses faced by the British forces. Two British officers, Sir Walter Elliot and Mr. Stevenson, were also taken hostages by Rani Chennamma’s forces.

To avoid further destruction and war, Rani Chennamma negotiated with the British Commissioner Mr. Chaplin and the Governor of Bombay, under whose politics Kittur fell. She released the hostages owing to the British promise that the war would no longer be continued. However, the promise turned out to be only an act of falsehood. Humiliated by their first defeat at the hands of a small Indian ruler, Mr. Chaplin treacherously returned with much larger forces from Mysore and Sholapur to attack Kittur once again.

Rani Chennamma fought the second battle fiercely with the aid of her Military Sangoli Rayanna and Gurusiddappa. During this second round of war, the Sub-collector of Sholapur, Mr. Munrow, nephew of Sir Thomas Munro, was also killed. For 12 days, Chennamma and her soldiers relentlessly defended their fort, but yet again, Chennamma was made prey to deceit. Two soldiers of her own army, Mallappa Shetty and Vankata Rao, betrayed Chennamma by mixing mud and cow dung with the gunpowder used for the canons.

Ultimately, Kittur Chennamma and her forces were outnumbered by the large strength of the British forces. Rani Chennamma was defeated in her last battle and captured by the British, who imprisoned her at the Bailhongal Fort for life.

Her loyal lieutenant Sangoli Rayanna continued the war even in her absence up to 1829, but in vain. He wished to install Shivalingappa, Chennamma’s adopted son, as the ruler of Kittur, but he was captured and hanged by the British. Shivalingappa was also arrested by the British forces.

After being captured, Rani Chennamma spent the last five years of her life in imprisonment at Bailhongal Fort reading holy texts and performing pooja. She took her last breath at the Bailhongal Fort on February 21, 1829.

Rani Chennamma’s samadhi (burial place) is in Bailhongal taluk, under the care of Government agencies. However, sadly, the burial place of this valiant queen lies neglected, in a state of poor maintenance. The only time the place is looked after is during the ‘Kittur Utsava’ and ‘Kannada Rajyotsava‘.

Kittur Rani Chennamma is still remembered for her courage. Even though she couldn’t win the war against the British, she became an inspiration for India’s freedom fighters and a lesson for the British government that Indian rulers will not accept their enforced laws without a good fight.

A historical-drama film called Kitturu Chennamma was produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu about the life and times of Kittur Rani Chennamma. A popular daily Indian Railways train that connects Bangalore and Kolhapur was also named after her as Rani Chennamma Express.

 On September 11, 2007, Rani Chennamma’s statue was unveiled at the Indian parliament complex in New Delhi by the first woman President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil. The statue was donated by the Kittur Rani Chennamma Memorial Committee and was sculpted by Vijay Gaura. Two other statues of Rani Chennamma were also installed at Bangalore and Kittur.

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