Rani Abbakka – The Warrior Queen of Ullal

In one of the thought provoking videos that I saw few years back, Sanjeev Sanyal, one of my favorite historian/speaker, with his amazing style of story-telling mentioned “Indian History that we are forced to read is not the history of India, its the history of Delhi. Read about all its dynasties, even obscure ones like the Lodhi’s. If you are not from Tamilnadu, you might not know or know very little about the great Cholas and Pallavas. If you are not from North east, you might not have heard of the great Ahom kings who ruled Assam for hundreds of years. You probably haven’t heard about Satavahanas or Chalukyas. So India needs to grab back its narrative from Delhi, this is the first part. The second part is that history told to us is from the colonial rulers. Have you noticed that no matter when the battle happens, the Indians always lose? Three battles of panipats, Indians lose. Battle of Buxar, Indians lose. Battle of Plassey, Indians lose. Now, given that we are still here, we must have won some battles at least? But those battles and successes were simply removed from our narratives. We were made to believe that we Indians are a bunch of losers, who were always meant to be colonized.“

He went on to cite numerous heroic battles that the “Indian” side won, but completely erased from our history text books. In one such Battle of Barsaich in 1025 AD, the legendary King Suheldev of Shravasti totally decimated the invading Turkic army led by Mahmud Ghazni’s nephew Masud, who was killed in the battle. This loss made the turkic army need further 175 years to regroup and launch fresh attack under Mohammad Ghori. A legendary commander Lachit Borphukan of the Ahom Kingdom in the North east India destroyed the mighty Mughal army under the rule of Emperor Aurangzeb at the 1671 Battle of Saraighat by the banks of Brahmaputra. There was this legendary King Marthanda Varma from Travancore, Kerala, who has potentially impacted how the World history panned out. He decimated the Dutch east India company, at the peak of their maritime prowess in the 1741 Battle of Colachel, on the beach. The Dutch went into a decline after this defeat, leading to rise of other European forces. From this point on, until 1905 when the Japanese defeated the Russians, no Asiatic power had defeated any European power, but Indian textbooks completely forgot this great king. Indian History never talks much about the mighty Maratha Empire, which, at its peak ruled a greater geography than the Mughals, we just get the feeling that after the Mughals, the British took over. These are but few examples of the battles that Indigenous Indians won. There have been many more.

One such legend comes from near my hometown Mangalore. While I was searching for a suitable freedom fighter from Karnataka for my daughter to talk about for her speech competition, I came across this valiant Queen Abbakka of Ullal. Embarrassingly enough, I only knew her name and nothing more. When I explored more details, I was simply awe-struck. Here was a legendary Queen who was probably the first woman freedom fighter of India. She thwarted several attempts of invasion by the mighty Portuguese, after they had already annexed Goa. What amazes me is that its not just one or two battles, she successfully defended Ullal for over 4 decades, defying Portuguese the trade rich ports of Mangalore and Ullal, this was phenomenal. This was a Queen who had not been given her due in the history pages.

The year was 1525 AD. Tirumala Raya of Chowta dynasty, a Matrilineal society, crowned Abbakka, his niece as the Rani (Queen) of Ullal. Since childhood, she got trained in archery, sword fighting, horse riding, military strategy and diplomacy. She was strategically married to Lakshmappa Arasa Bangaraja, King of neighboring Mangalore. However, their marriage didn’t last, with her husband siding the Portuguese. In 1555, the Portuguese sent Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira to fight her, but she bravely resisted this attack. The Portuguese launched another attack in 1568, this time their general, João Peixoto and his army soldiers were killed. She forged alliances with Bijapur Sultan of Ahmed Nagar and the Zamorine of Calicut, who were also opposing the Portuguese. Sadly, she got captured after the loss in next battle after getting betrayed by her treacherous husband, and Ullal got finally captured. What’s impressive is the period of 4 decades, when she not only ruled the Kingdom defying the Portuguese, she also developed & maintained good trade route along the ports of Mangalore & Ullal.

Rani Abbakka was known to be a great ruler, one who also mingled with the commoner. There are historic accounts of Portuguese travelers, who admired her grit. They were surprised as how this simple looking lady would walk proudly around her kingdom with just a couple of soldiers for safety. Back in Portuguese, this dare devil queen had raised many eyebrows for her bravery and determination, causing a lot of hurdles to their expansion plans. Religious harmony was evidently practiced by the Royal family. Although the Chowtas were primarily Jains, her generals & army consisted of Hindus and Muslims, who fought valiantly under her leadership. In one occasion, she took refuge inside a Mosque to save and regroup her army. Citizens completely believed in her leadership and played their parts standing united against the foreigners. This was indeed a mass movement against the foreign rule and ruthless policies. Well and truly making her one of the pioneers of freedom fighting against colonizers.

Rani Abbakka joins a long list of powerful indigenous Indian rulers who have been sadly sidelined by our own history text books. History should never be forgotten and stories of such brave Indian Kings, Queens & generals should be told and retold, in a dedicated attempt to glorify the rich lineage of leadership in Incredible India. I think it’s time to re-write the Indian history books.