To commemorate 200 years of Rani Chennamma’s rebellion against the British East India Company, several social groups across the country organised a national campaign, Naanoo Rani Chennamma (I am Rani Chennamma too) on February 21.
Kittur revolt of 1824
- The Kittur revolt of 1824 was one of the earliest woman-led anti-colonial struggles. Rani Chennamma, the queen of Kitturu was one such warrior who led a war against British forces in early part of 19th Century when not many rulers were familiar with the evil designs of the British.
- She was the first Indian ruler to lead an armed rebellion against the British East India Company.
- Chennamma was born in Kakati, a small village in today’s Belagavi district of Karnataka. She became queen of Kitturu (now in Karnataka) when she married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family.
- They had one son who died in 1824. After the death of her son, she adopted another child, Shivalingappa, and made him heir to the throne. However, the British East India Company did not accept this under the Doctrine of Lapse.
- Doctrine of Lapse was a policy of annexation devised by the British East India Company. According to the doctrine, any princely state or territory under the paramountcy (direct influence) of the British East India Company as a “vassal” under the British subsidiary system, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either “manifestly incompetent or died without a male heir”.
- The princely state of Kitturu was taken over by the British East India Company in 1824 by imposing the ‘doctrine of lapse’, even before it was officially articulated by Lord Dalhousie, Governor General for the British East India Company, between 1848 and 1856.
- It was probably the first instance of its application. The British ordered Rani Chennamma to exile the adopted child Shivalingappa, using the policy of paramountcy and complete authority. But Chennamma defied the order.
- In the first battle on October 1824, British forces lost heavily. Later, Chennamma was captured and imprisoned at Bailhongal Fort, where she died on 21 February 1829.
- Chennamma’s first victory and her legacy are still commemorated annually in Kitturu, during the Kitturu Utsava held from October 22–24.
