The British ruled our country for about fifty two hundred years. In these past two hundred years, they have inflicted many injustices on us. But very few people know that millions of known and unknown patriots fought against the same unjust oppression of the British, including some women. If we take out the list of women who gave freedom to the country, we will remember the names of so many women who can be counted on the fingers of our hands, because many women freedom fighters or patriotic women who sacrificed for the country have not been recorded by our historians, so their history has not come before the new generation. Today we will learn about the bravery of one such patriotic woman freedom fighter from this article because today is the birth anniversary of that great woman freedom fighter. The name of that great freedom fighter is Rani Chenamma of Kittur.
Rani Chennama was born on 23 October 1778 in a small village Kakti in Belgaum. Brave from childhood, Rani Chennama was taught by her father Dhulappa Desai Gaudraru in horse riding, swordsmanship and javelin throwing. At the age of fifteen, Rani Chennama was married to King Mallasaraja of the Desai family. But the year 1824 turned out to be a year of misfortune for her as her husband and son also died in that year. A big mountain of grief fell on her as her husband and son left her in the same year. Taking advantage of the instability in his kingdom after the death of Raja Mallasraj, the British decided to invade his kingdom. A huge responsibility fell on Rani Chennama to save the kingdom from the British, but she did not waver. He immediately moved his capital to the hill region. In order to have an heir to the throne, he adopted a son named Shivalingappa and made him the heir to the kingdom, but the then British officer Lord Dalhousie rejected the adoption and ordered the expulsion of Shivalingappa as the heir to the kingdom. If the king of a state dies and has no heir, then the adopted son cannot inherit the state, so the British decided to abolish that state and start British rule there, so Queen Chennama was determined not to let her state fall under the control of the British under any circumstances. .
The kingdom of Kittur was in Dharwad district. St. John Thatchery was the Governor of Dharwad at that time and Chaplin was the Commissioner. Both of them advised Rani Chennama to abdicate the kingdom and if she did not do so, to be ready for war. As a last resort, Rani Chennama appealed to Elphinstone, the Lt. Governor of Bombay Presidency, to abolish the state, but he refused and attacked Kitur. The British attacked Kittur and tried to loot the treasure of Kittur. Kittur’s treasury at that time contained precious jewels and a treasure worth one and a half crores of rupees. The 3rd Division of Madras Native Horse Artillery of the British had more than 20,000 soldiers out of which about 400 soldiers were gunners but Rani Chennama’s army was not less and they fought hard against the British army and routed the British army. The British did not expect Rani Chennama’s army to fight them with such courage and they took Rani Chennama’s army lightly. Rani Chennama’s army strength was small compared to British but Rani Chennama inspired her soldiers. Seeing that their queen, despite being a woman, fought the British well, they also got fired up and defeated the British army. Governor St. John was killed in this battle. Some of the British officers were imprisoned by Rani Chennama’s soldiers. These officers were released only on condition of cessation of hostilities. The British authorities did not follow the cease-fire agreement. Commissioner Chaplin again attacked Kuttur with great force. This time too Rani Chennama’s army put up a good fight but Rani Chennama was captured and imprisoned in Bullock Hogal fort. On February 21, 1829, Rani Chennama died in British custody. Even after Rani Chennama’s death, Rani’s army continued to fight against the British but the fight was unsuccessful. But seeing Rani Chennama’s bravery, the British officials saluted her. Rani Chennama’s bravery is a refreshing chapter on the pages of history but even today this history is far away from the younger generation hence this article is available. Rani Chennama’s struggle should be seen as a golden chapter in Indian history. Greetings to Rani Chennama on her birth anniversary!
Shyam Thanedar
Daund, District Pune
