Kittur Chinnava

Kittur Rani Chinnava ( Kannada ಕಿತ್ತೂರು ರಾಣಿ ಚೆನ್ನಮ್ಮ, * 23. October 1778 in Kakati in Belgaum , Karnataka , India , † 21st February 1829 in Bailhongal, Belgaum), was the queen of Kittur that in 1824 an unsuccessful armed rebellion against the British East India -Company led. It became a symbol of the independence movement in India. In the state of Karnataka she is celebrated as a heroine.

Early life

Chinnava was born to the Desai family in Kataki, a village in the former Kingdom of Kittur. Like Lakshmibai , who fought the British decades after her, she was trained in horse riding, sword fighting and archery in her youth.

Battle against the British

She became queen of her homeland and married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family. She had a son. After his death in 1824, she adopted Shivalingappa and made him heir to the throne. The East India Company did not accept this and ordered the expulsion of Shivalingappas through the execution of the Doctrine of Lapse developed by Lord Dalhousie , but Chinnava defied this order.

Course of war

Rani Chinnava sent the governor of Bombay a letter asking him to stand up for Kittur, but Elphinstone refused and war broke out. The British attempted to confiscate the Kittur Treasury, worth approximately 150,000 rupees . They attacked with an armed force of 200 soldiers and four guns, mainly from the third squad of mounted artillery reinforcements from Madras . During the first phase of the war in October 1824, British forces suffered heavy losses, including tax collector and political officer John Thackeray. Amatur Balappa, one of Chinnava's lieutenants, was mainly responsible for the losses of British troops. Two British officers, Sir Walter Elliot and Stevenson, were also held hostage. Rani Chinnava released them on condition that they end the war, but they resumed the war with more forces. In the second attack, Solapur's tax collector Munro, Thomas Munro's nephew, was killed. Rani Chinnava continued to fight with the help of her lieutenants Sangolli Rayanna and Gurusiddappa, but was eventually captured and taken to prison in a fort in Bailhongal, where she died on February 21, 1829.

Sangolli Rayanna fought a guerrilla war until his captive in 1829 . He wanted to use the young Shivalingappa as ruler of Kittur, but was caught and hanged. Shivalingappa was captured by the British. Chinnva's legacy and her first victory are presented in Kittur every year during the festival Kittur Utsava from 22-24. October commemorates.

Statue in front of the New Delhi Parliament building and burial place

On September 11, 2007, a statue of Rani Chinnava was unveiled by President Pratibha Patil in front of the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi . Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , Interior Minister Shivraj Patil , the spokesman for Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee , Lal Krishna Advani and HD Kumaraswamy were also present. The statue was donated by the Kittur Rani Chinnava Memorial Committee and designed by artist Vijay Gaur .

There are other statues by Chinnava in Bangalore and Kittur.

Rani Chinnava's samadhi or burial place is in Bailhongal in Belgaum in a park run by government agencies.

The coast guard ship "Kittur Chennamma" named after her was launched in 1983 and decommissioned in 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lion MG Agrawal. Freedom fighters of India. Volume 4, ISHA Books, Delhi 2008, ISBN 978-81-8205-468-4 , p. 192.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Kittur Rani statue unveiled. In: The Hindu. September 12, 2007.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Subramanian Gopalakrishnan: The South Indian rebellions: before and after 1800. Palaniappa Brothers, Chennai 2007, ISBN 978-81-8379-500-5 , pp. 102-103.
4. ^ Disturbances at Kittur and the death of Mr. Thackeray. Parbury, Allen, and Company, London 1825, pp. 474-475.
5. ^ The Occurrences at Kittur in 1824. In: Asiatic Journal. Vol. 3, Parbury, Allen, and Co, London 1830, pp. 218-222.
6. ^ ^{A b c} Lewis O'Malley: Indian civil service, 1601-1930. Frank Cass, London 1985, ISBN 0-7146-2023-8 , p. 76.
7. ↑ Restore Kittur monuments. In: The Hindu. October 1, 2011.
8. ↑ Kambar calls for research on Chennamma. In: The Hindu. October 25, 2012.
9. ↑ Pratibha unveils Kittur Rani Chennamma statue. on: news.oneindia.in
10. ↑ ^{a b} Kittur Rani Chennamma's samadhi lies in neglect. In: The Times of India. October 30, 2012.
11. ↑ Dinesh M Varma. Coast Guard to acquire 20 ships, 10 aircraft.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Hindu. June 28, 2011.  

Web links

Painting by Kittur Rani Chinnava