Hello readers, how are you all ? I hope everyone is having fun and being healthy. Welcome to our Gaurav Sangrah blog. From the Indian History, today we are going to talk about a women freedom fighter, "Rani Abbakka Chowta"
- who faced the Portuguese in the 16th century.
- who regained her lost forts in just one night.
- She was also known as Independent woman soldier of India.
Who was Rani Abbakka Chowta ?
The Chowta dynasty ruled in the town of Ullal (known as Ullal Nagar) in the coastal region of Karnataka. Queen Abbakka Chowta was born into that Chowta dynasty. As she was born in a royal family, she had the full rites of a princess. She was proficient in swordsmanship, archery, horse riding, etc. Since Rani Abbakka was a Chowta princess, she was also educated to hold the throne.
In the state of Karnataka she was compared to Rani Lakshmibai, Kittur Chennamma, Chennabhairadevi and Keladi Chennamma of Jhansi. Her maternal uncle Tirumala Raya married her to Banga Raja Lakshmappa of Mangalore. But as her husband was not behaving well, she returned back to her Ullal town.
Who was more dominant in the Chowta dynasty?
At that time in Chowta dynasty, the position of girls was considered high. Suppose that if a child is born in the family, there is not much happiness at the birth of a boy as it is at the time of the birth of a girl. Women and girls were given a lot of respect. At that time girls were given land and property.
The Chowta dynasty also came back to follow the maternal tradition. So Tirumala Raya, the maternal uncle of Rani Abbakka Chowta, also handed over the Rajpat to Rani Abbakka Chowta with traditional tiaras and continued his tradition from generation to generation.
With what intention did the Portuguese come to Ullal Nagar?
Portuguese were also known as Portugalio. In Portuguese, Vasco da Gama first came to India by sea. Vasco da Gama found his way to India. Finding the road, the Portuguese set foot in India. At first, the Portuguese came to get the delicious spices from India.
Slowly then they came to India under the guise of Indian spices and started to take possession of the Indian coastal ports. The Portuguese took possession of Goa in this way. In the same way, the Portuguese came to the port of Ullal town in Karnataka through the sea route and they also wanted to capture Ullal Nagar.
What did Rani Abbakka Chowta deny to the Portuguese?
As Portuguese captured Goa, they also conquered Mangalore and now they reached Ullal, Kanatark with the intention of capturing the city. The Portuguese used to come to Ullal port and try to buy spices, cloth, etc. from the merchants at cheap prices. But Queen Abbakka Chowta refused to give any goods to the Portuguese at a cheap price.
Portuguese visiting India
Now from the town of Ullal the Portuguese were driven out by Rani Abbakka Chowta. She also helped the Zamorin of Calicut and the Sultan of Bijampur to repel the Portuguese, so the Portuguese took their revenge by looting the fort of Mangalore and then General Piczoto also invaded Ullal Nagar and defeated Rani Abbakka Chowta.
What did Rani Abbakka Chowta do while staying in a mosque?
Defeated by the Portuguese, Queen Abbakka Chowta took refuge in a mosque. She was very skilled in politics and strategy. She was so clever that she formed a group of 200 soldiers with the help of his loyal men while staying in the mosque and suddenly invaded the city of Ullal overnight and regained his lost dominion in one night.
Regaining Fort
Then Rani Abbakka Chowta with the help of the Kaladi prince Venkatesampa killed General Piczoto and drove the Portuguese away. She not only regained her town of Ullal but also conquered the fort of Mangalore.
Who betrayed Rani Abbakka Chowta?
Unhappy with her husband's behavior, Rani Abbakka Chowta left her husband's house. Hence the enmity between both queen Abbakka Chowta and her husband Lakshmappa increased. The Portuguese took advantage of the rivalry between husband and wife.
Lakshmappa was tricked into giving information about the queen and Lakshmappa was also against his wife. So he revealed all the captive secrets of Abbakka to the Portuguese. Now the Portuguese had a lot information about the queen.
So the Portuguese invade the capital of Queen Abbakka and defeat her. Eventually she was defeated by the Portuguese due to the rebellion of her husband. Then she got arrested and was sent to jail.
Conclusion:
In this article we get to know how brave Queen Abbakka Chowta was. She protected the town of Ullal from the Portuguese for four decades. She used fire arrows in which dry coconut peels were burnt and inserted into the arrow and then fired at the enemies.
She was one of the first Indian women to fight against colonialism. Despite being imprisoned by the Portuguese, she continued to fight against the Portuguese for independence and eventually died in prison while fighting. Despite being a Jain herself, she considered all the religions of her town, Hindus and Muslims as equal.
Rani Abbakka Chowta is also called fearless queen because of her bravery and bravery. Even today, a book named after Rani Abbakka Chowta is given to promote women in Karnataka. Petrol pumps have been opened on her name.
The government has also released a postage stamp of Rani Abbakka Chowta. A statue of her has also been erected in Ullal Nagar. Fearless, powerful, genius are some of the words we use to describe her.
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We will come back very soon in another article with such women freedom fighter of Indian History, till then take care and keep on reading Gaurav Sangrah.