You must have
read or heard about Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, Chandbibi and Rani Kittur
Chennamma, but most of you must not have even heard about the brave queen Rani
Abbakka, who ruled Ullal, close to Mangalore in Karnataka. She was a young and daring queen
who fought the Portuguese for decades. Her story is full of valor and courage
to stay independent. Though the Portuguese captured Daman, Goa and other areas,
but she was one of the main reasons they couldn’t get Mangalore.
Rani Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of
Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century. She
belonged to the Chowta dynasty who ruled over parts of coastal Karnataka in
South India. Their capital was Puttige. The port town of Ullal served as their
subsidiary capital. Rani Abbakka Chowta’s reign was around 1525 – 1570s. Abbakka
Chowta was a Jain who fought against the Portuguese for four decades, with an
army comprising of both Hindus and Muslims, a full 300 years before the First
War of Indian Independence in 1857.
The Portuguese made several attempts to capture
Ullal as it was strategically placed. But Abbakka repulsed each of their
attacks for over four decades. For her bravery, she came to be known
as Abhaya Rani (The fearless queen). She was also one of the
earliest Indians to fight the colonial powers and is sometimes regarded as the
'first woman freedom fighter of India'. In the state of Karnataka,
she is celebrated along with Rani Kittur Chennamma, Keladi
Chennamma and Onake Obavva, as the foremost women warriors and
patriots.
The Chowtas followed the system
of matrilineal inheritance of Digambara Jain Bunt community
by which Tirumala Raya, Abbakka's uncle, crowned her the queen of Ullal. Later
he also forged a matrimonial alliance for Abbakka with Lakshmappa Arasa
Bangaraja II, king of Banga principality in Mangalore. This
alliance was to later prove a source of worry for the Portuguese. Tirumala Raya
also trained Abbakka in the different aspects of warfare and military strategy.
The marriage, however, was short-lived and Abbakka returned to Ullal. Her
husband thus longed for revenge against Abbakka and was to later join the
Portuguese in their fight against Abbakka.
After conquering Goa and taking control
of the territory, the Portuguese turned
their attention southwards and along the coast. They first attacked the South
Kanara coast in 1525 and destroyed the Mangalore port. Across the
Netravati river, Ullal was a prosperous port and a hub of the spice trade to
Arabia and other countries in the west. Being the profitable trading center,
the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British vied with one another for control of
the region as well as the trade routes. They, however, had not been able to
make much headway as the resistance from the local chieftains was very strong.
The local rulers even forged alliances cutting across caste and religious lines
to keep the foreigners at bay.
Rani Abbakka's administration was well represented
by Jains, Hindus as well as Muslims. Historical research
also reveals that during her rule in the 16th century, Beary (muslims) men
had served as seamen in the naval force. Rani Abbakka had personally supervised
the construction of dam at Malali; she had appointed Bearys for
boulder work. Her army too consisted of people of all sects and castes. She
even forged alliances with the Zamorin of Calicut. Together,
they kept the Portuguese at bay. The marital ties with the neighbouring Banga
dynasty added further strength to the alliance of the local rulers. She also
gained support from powerful king Venkatappanayaka of Bidnur and
ignored the threats of Portuguese forces.
The year was 1555. Portuguese colonial power was at
its peak in the 1500’s. They destroyed Zamorins of Calicut. Defeated the Sultan
of Bijapur. Took away Daman from the Sultan of Gujarat, Established a colony in
Mylapore, Captured Bombay and made Goa as their headquarters. And while they
were at it, pretty much unchallenged, they even ruined the ancient
Kapaleeswarar Temple. Their next target was the busy port of Mangalore. Their
one big problem, just 14 kilometers
south of Mangalore was the small settlement of Ullal - ruled then by a feisty
30 year old woman – Rani Abbakka Chowta. Initially, they took her lightly and
sent a few boats and soldiers to capture and bring her back to Goa - Those
boats never came back.
The Portuguese, clearly upset by Abbakka's tactics,
demanded that she pay tribute to them but Abbakka refused to yield. Shocked and
enraged, in 1555, the Portuguese sent a huge fleet under the command of much
celebrated Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira . In the battle that followed,
Rani Abbakka once again managed to hold her own and repulsed the attack
successfully. The admiral soon returned, badly injured and empty handed.
Thereafter, another Portuguese fleet was sent - only a few injured from the
crew managed to make it back.
Then in 1557, the Portuguese went on to capture the
Mangalore port and the fort, perhaps planning to tackle Rani Abbakka Chowta
from the convenient distance of the Mangalore fort. After the successful
capture of Mangalore, a huge army under João Peixoto, an experienced Portuguese
General was sent to Ullal by the Portuguese Viceroy António Noronha. The brief was simple: Subjugate Ullal and
capture Abbakka Chowta. The plan was foolproof- there was no way a 30 year old
lady with a few men could withstand the might of an army of thousands with
advanced weapons.
They managed to capture the city of Ullal and also
entered the royal court. Abbakka Rani, however, escaped and took refuge in a
mosque. The same night, she gathered around 200 of her soldiers and mounted an
attack on the Portuguese. In the battle that ensued, General Peixoto was
killed, seventy Portuguese soldiers were taken prisoners and many of the
Portuguese retreated. She proceeded towards Mangalore and laid siege of the
Mangalore fort. In the attacks that followed, Abbakka Rani and her supporters
killed Admiral Mascarenhas the Chief of the Portuguese power there, and the Portuguese were forced to vacate the
Mangalore fort too. She didn’t just stop at this but went on to even capture
the Portuguese settlement at Kundapura, a full 100 kms, north of Mangalore.
The Portuguese finally managed to get back at
Abbakka Chowta by convincing her estranged husband, to betray her for money. With
the help of the queen's estranged husband, they mounted attacks on Ullal.
Furious battles followed but Abbakka Rani held her own. In 1570, she formed an
alliance with the Bijapur Sultan of Ahmednagar and the Zamorine
of Calicut, who were also opposing the Portuguese. Kutty Pokar Markar, the
Zamorine's general fought on behalf of Abbakka and destroyed the Portuguese
fort at Mangalore but while returning he was killed by the Portuguese. She was
arrested and put in the prison where she revolted again and was killed while
trying to escape
As per local legends, she was an immensely popular
queen and this is also attested by the fact that she is even today a part of
folklore. The queen's story has been retold from generation to generation
through folk songs and Yakshagana, a popular folk theatre in coastal
Karnataka. In Daiva Kola, a local ritual dance, the persona in trance recounts
the great deeds of Abbakka Mahadevi. Abbakka is portrayed as dark and good
looking, always dressed in simple clothes like a commoner. She is portrayed as
a caring queen who worked late into the night dispensing justice. Legends also
claim that Abbakka was the last known person to have used the Agnivana
(fire-arrow) in her fight against the Portuguese. Some accounts also claim that
she had two equally valiant daughters who fought alongside her in her wars
against the Portuguese. But there is no documented evidence to prove all
this.
Abbakka's memory is much cherished in her home town
of Ullal. The "Veera Rani Abbakka Utsava" is an annual
celebration held in her memory. The Veera Rani Abbakka Prashasti award is given
to distinguished women on the occasion. On January 15, 2003, the Indian
postal department issued a special cover on Rani Abbakka. There have been calls
to name the Mangalore Bajpe airport in her memory. A bronze
statue of the queen has been erected in Ullal and another
in Bangalore. The Karnataka Itihasa Academy has called for
renaming the Queen's road in the state capital as 'Rani Abbakka Devi
road'. A special police force is
also launched in South Kanara in the name of "Rani Abbakka Pade" to
deal with the issues related to women in the district.
The Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS
Rani Abbakka, the first of a series of five inshore patrol vessels (IPV) built
at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd is named after Abbakka Mahadevi was
commissioned in Vishakapatnam on January 20, 2012, and is based
in Chennai, as a tribute to this brave queen.
boat USTRAA SBI Card
Also read: Koti Chennaya - legendary heroes-of-tululand
Koti Chennaya - legendary heroes of tululand
Also read: Koti Chennaya - legendary heroes-of-tululand
Koti Chennaya - legendary heroes of tululand
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Very interesting information. I had not heard of Rani Abbakka nor learnt in history. Thank you for sharing this info. Worth cherishing.
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