In this episode, we’re talking about a real historical person. Rani Chennamma of Kittur. Rani is not her first name. Rani is merely the regional word for Queen. She was a warrior Queen who fought against the British Invasion. We’ll hear her story. But not directly from Chennamma. The scene is in the club of the fellows of the canteen of the BEICC. That stands for the British East India Company Club. The canteen was the watering hole of the Company officers.
We go to table 17 in the canteen. The officers at the table were cheerful. And they had every reason to be. St John Thackeray, the collector of Dharwad, chuckled and said “It’s jolly well like watching a bowling game. They go down like skittles”.
It would have indeed been jolly well if Thackeray had been referring to real skittles, which are these wooden pins that you knock down with a bowling ball, if you’ve ever tried your hand at the sport.
But the grim reality was that Thackeray was referring to something far more disturbing.
“I’m chuffed to bits!” he continued. “I collected a Nabob yesterday”
That got everyone’s attention quickly. Someone at the neighboring table spluttered their tea. Other officers at nearby tables turned to him in wonder, unable to any longer resist the impression that they were listening. Thackeray was not just a collector of taxes as the title indicated in British India. He collected territories, and in this case sovereign rulers.
“How on Earth did you manage that?” asked Sir Walter Elliot, awed by this revelation.
“Oh with a little help from Lord Dalhousie,” chuckled Chaplin, who was Thackeray’s commissioner.
“Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General, himself?” asked Stevenson incredulously. He was a junior officer there.
“Oh no, my dear fellow. I think you have the wrong end of the stick, don’t you know?” said Chaplin. “What I meant earlier was Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse”
“Ah, the jolly old DOL,” said Sir Walter. “I should’ve guessed”
A sidebar here, because I’m sure some of you listeners may not have heard of what Sir Walter called the jolly old DOL. This was a rule by the governor-general, who was the direct representative of the British East India company, and later British monarchy in India. Basically it said that if the ruler of an independent state or a Kingdom were to pass away without leaving a male successor, that independent state or Kingdom would be ruled by the BEIC. No reasoning was given for this logic. This logic is as arbitrary as that time that NASA had declared that they owned the administration of everything above a certain altitude, effectively giving them the administration of the entire Universe.
Such was the logic of the Doctrine of Lapse. And as Thackeray explained it was even better to deliver the order in English. Chances are, the successor of the recently departed local ruler would be gobsmacked. In an embarrassing attempt to hide their lack of knowledge of the English language from their people, they would blindly sign it and unknowingly hand over the keys to the British.
“Crikey, that’s dashed cheeky!” remarked Sir Walter. “How much closer are you to your goal?”
“Very close indeed, my dear chap.” replied Thackeray. “I have a subedar, a maharaja and now a Nabob as well. All I’m missing is a Raja, and then don’t forget our bet gentlemen – you will all owe me a cup of tea”
The rest of the heads at the table nodded appreciatively.
They continued chatting about this and that. But Thackeray’s mind kept drifting back to the question of where was the elusive Raja whose kingdom he could conquer?
Unknown to him, the Raja was right in his own backyard, so to speak. In Kittur which was part of
his sphere of influence, and one of the regions he collected taxes from.
There also a group of people were meeting, but in dramatically different circumstances.
It was a dark and secluded basement. It had been carefully checked for bugs. Of both kinds – the insects and the secret listening devices. There were six people at a table, at the head of which was Chennamma, the Rani or Queen of Kittur. She was not a regular Queen, in the sense that her objective in life was not to marry a King, bear a few children and complain to her husband about Kings and Queens in neighboring Kingdoms.
Chennamma called for attention and addressed the group – “I can confirm that the rumors of my husband’s demise are all true. As of tonight, the Kingdom of Kittur does not have a Raja”
Shocked expressions at the table.
“Well, but it has a Rani, right? You’ll rule us, won’t you, your majesty?” asked Sangolli Rayanna. He had been the King’s right hand man. And now presumably the Queen’s right hand man.
“Spoken like a true warrior,” Chennamma said. “Now my first order of business is to increase our military budget”
“But we don’t have a military budget,” said one of the commanders.
“And that, gentlemen, is precisely why we need to increase it,” said Chennamma.
Rudraiah, a minister who had been quiet until now, spoke up. “Will the British accept you as ruler?”
It was a valid question. The British did not look very favorably on women rulers amongst the natives. Even though they themselves had a number of Queens in their history.
Chennamma got back to the heart of Rudraiah’s question. “I think we have to get out of the habit of thinking that we need their acceptance. We don’t. We are a wealthy kingdom. We can manage just fine without British approval.”
“It’s not merely the lack of passive approval I am worried about,” said Rudraiah. “I’m afraid they might do something about it”
That made them more gloomy than the death of their recently departed Raja had done. Nothing more was said that night, but Chennamma resolved to send a letter to the BEIC to tell them that a change in succession had happened so the treaties and trade agreements could continue. Chennamma couldn’t have not sent the letter, that would be an invitation for confrontation. At least she was getting the dialogue started.
But only a few days later, back in the BEIC club during high tea, that exact topic was raised.
“By George!” said Thackeray, when he began reading a letter Chaplin had just handed him.
“Which one?” asked Chaplin.
“Huh, what? I don’t understand your question”
“Well sir, you might be referring to our beloved ruler, King George the fourth. Or maybe to his father George the third who was King before him. Or his grandfather, George the second. I mean George the third’s grandfather, not George the fourth’s. Or maybe his George the second’s father – George the first”
A waiter who happened to hear this part of the conversation shook his head. These British folks could steal all the wealth and treasures of the countries they looted. But they couldn’t steal themselves some creativity when it came to naming their children. He looked down at the dry bread and marmite he was serving, and added to himself “and they couldn’t steal themselves any decent recipes either”. The waiter was an Indian naturally.
But going back to the issue at hand, Thackeray had finished describing that the George he had alluded to was an abstract George and not any specific member of the British monarchy.
“Fancy that,” he added to the waiting crowd. “We were just talking last week about how dashed difficult it is these days to get hold of a good old Raja whose Kingdom I could take over. And here is the very thing” and he described Chennamma’s letter.
“Why it’s practically an invitation to take over” said Chaplin
The others agreed and raised their toasts and tea cups to toast the upcoming completion of Thackeray’s bet.
Thackeray dashed off a reply. There was no telegraph in those days, so the letter was sent by ordinary post, rather than speed post. There were two reasons for this. One, Thackeray didn’t want Chennamma to have too much of an advanced warning of his impending invasion. Secondly, speed posts cost a lot more. Both speed posts and ordinary posts were carried by horses, it’s just that speed post horses were allowed the right of way on highways.
The letter reached Chennamma and she called another meeting and read it aloud to her council.
“Dear Mrs. Chennamma, frightfully sorry for your loss and all that sort of rot, you know? It pains me to imagine what the state of your Kingdom must be without a male ruler. Now I know you have a bee in your bonnet about wanting to sit on the throne and all that. And you’re claiming that you’re only doing it on behalf of your adoptive son. But it’s silly, you know? Who heard of such a thing? It’s balderdash and blimey and bilgewater. A woman ruling the Kingdom? It’s just not cricket! Now definitely hold on to your horses about that, because unless you do I’m afraid you might be getting yourself into a bit of a pickle here. I might tool down to pop in for a spot of tea and a chinwag, and I might bring along a few of my close soldier friends. Purely for protection. Cheerio! And catch you soon Queenie”
“What do you make of that?” asked the Queen
“He’s afraid, and he’s sorry but he’s going to come visit for tea and pickle and help you remove the bees and play cricket with you?” offered one minister. Clearly this minister’s talents did not lie in the English language arts.
Rudriah laughed mirthlessly. “He’s coming to take over the kingdom, your highness”
A few more nods around the table.
“I think so too,” Chennamma said. “And judging by the fact that the letter came by ordinary post, he’s probably on his way already. It’s a good thing I already gave orders to start preparing our weapons.”
But she was wrong. Thackeray wasn’t just on his way. He was already there. And he decided to announce his presence by knocking on the strong tall doors of the fort. With cannonballs.
“What do you think of our bet now, gentlemen? We have over 20 thousand troops, and that fort has probably a few thousand at best. We have the latest artillery, over 400 guns, thousands of horses. And they have sticks and stones, maybe some swords and spears”
He was right. But maybe he should have recognized that Chennamma’s army had the high ground here, being inside the fort. And moreover the stones they had were actually rocks. Boulders. It was actually a brilliant plan. The Kittur fort was positioned in a similar way to most forts. Gravity was on Chennamma’s side here. All they had to do was toss down some huge rocks and let them roll and crush the soldiers. That’s exactly what they did. It was Rayanna’s idea, which goes to show that Chennamma was a great leader for listening to her people.
The rocks and boulders they tossed down the walls of the fort ripped through the army that had surrounded the fort. The British army was decimated. After which it was easy for Chennamma to give the orders to throw open the gates and chase down the lucky few who had escaped the rockfall.
Sir Walter Eliot and Stevenson were found alive and taken prisoner. Thackeray was not so lucky. And Chaplin was nowhere to be seen. He had probably taken flight. But Chennamma was sure he would be back again. And be better protected next time. The British had a reputation to protect in India, and by winning this battle she had dared them to turn their full force upon her.
She wanted peace for her people. She decided she would extend an olive branch. She wrote a letter and because she wasn’t stingy, she sent it by speed post. It was addressed to Chaplin and the terms were simple. You can have Sir Walter and Stevenson back but let’s stop fighting.
Chaplin had had the fright of his life when he had the boulder coming towards him. He had managed to rush out of the way in the nick of time. He would not forget that ignominy for a long time. But he was also not the hotheaded kind who would refuse to deal with whom he perceived as his archenemy. So he wrote a letter dripping with the milk of human politeness. Figuratively only. Literally, the letter was dripping with ink.
Yes, of course he would be more than willing to call off hostilities. And he would be delighted to reunite Sir Walter and Stevenson with their families. He was just going to send someone down to collect the pair, don’t you know?
He did send someone. A truce flag bearing a harmless looking official. When this official knocked on the Kittur fortress doors, he used the knuckles of his hands, unlike Thackeray.
Promptly the butler opened the door and even offered him a refreshment while Sir Walter and Stevenson were fetched.
The expressions on the faces of the two British prisoners were almost of disappointment. They had been treated very generously by their Indian captors. This was almost a holiday for them. Naturally they were reluctant to go back to officers’ quarters. But they had to. The official took them away and quickly rushed them away from the fortress.
“Quick, we have to get out of here before the assault begins”, he told the pair.
The recent prisoners were surprised there was an assault after all. Chennamma had given them the impression there would be a ceasefire.
But the assault did come. And in ever greater numbers as Chaplin sought reinforcements from the nearby region of Solapur. The sub-collector there, Munro, was personally involved in the attack. The position of sub-collector of Solapur wasn’t significant by itself. But what was significant was that Munro was the nephew of the Governor of the Madras Presidency of the British. That bit of nepotism made him a big shot.
Chennamma and her council were a little surprised and disappointed by Chaplin’s failure to hold up his end of the bargain. But thanks to Rudraiah’s ever-pessimistic advice, they had prepared a bit. This time the fight was brutal. Munro appeared to have studied the tactics that Chennamma had used in the last battle. And this time he was prepared to have his army march in a way that they could quickly get out of the way of large boulders. They were very well prepared against the rolling stones. But not as well prepared against arrows and spears.
The fight was much less one-sided this time. And Chennamma still won but narrowly. The people of Kittur celebrated, but Chennamma thought to herself that this was not victory. The shroud of the British empire had just fallen. Munro was defeated and killed in the battle, even though it had been Chennamma’s intention to capture him alive and use the peace offering tactic again. With a more prominent official like Munro, it might have worked. But now that he was dead, it might cost them the war.
But it was too late to cry over spilt milk now. They had to prepare for the next assault. And this one was going to be the final round.
People in Kittur, except Chennamma, were indeed celebrating. In stark contrast the mood in the canteen was completely the opposite of what we saw at the beginning of the story. The canteen was full of officers, but there was dead silence. Had you been there, you would have gotten the feeling that even if someone attempted to speak, they might clear their throat a couple of times and then just give up. There was only one reason for this turnaround. That was Chennamma. The lady they had made fun of not long ago, was an embarrassment for these experienced officers. Chaplin would leave no further stones unturned. He was going to write to Dalhousie himself.
Dalhousie at this time had two letters on his desk. One was from Chaplin requesting reinforcements to fight against this Chennamma upstart to preserve the honor and integrity and to effectively render the discharge of the board of directors of British East India Company’s administration in the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand was a letter from Chennamma herself. It was an honest account of what had happened and it ended with a request to terminate hostilities.
Chennamma’s letter was written in such plain and simple English that Dalhousie wished he could use it as a model to get his officials to write simpler letters in the future. But of course he didn’t. There was only one conclusion that Dalhousie was going to come to. It should not be a surprise considering he was the brains behind the Doctrine of Lapse. He sent the reinforcements. And for good measure he sent reinforcements to the reinforcements.
This time the battle was one sided. But it was heavily in the British favor. The fort was continuously bombarded from all sides. Chennamma’s army had run out of rocks. And soon her people were going to starve.
Chennamma realized that there was no path forward here for her. But if she surrendered it might allow some of her inner council members to escape with sections of the army. And maybe they could revolt from the outside.
Chennamma rode out in military gear. She attacked and hurt a lot of the British army. Before she was captured.
Rayanna escaped and continued to bother the British attacking them from the outside. But he too was captured.
Chennamma died in captivity, after being held prisoner for 5 years. She didn’t get treated nearly as well as she had treated her British prisoners. But that should not be shocking.
That’s all for now
Some notes on the show
Though the heroics of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi are a little more publicized, including Bollywood movies, Chennamma’s story deserves recognition on a similar scale. Chennamma also preceded Laxmibai by approximately 30 years, but given communication being what it was back then, it would be hard to claim that Chennamma inspired Laxmibai.
Laxmibai was previously character of the week back in Episode 7.
Here are some related pictures:
Fort ruins
A statue of Rani Chennamma in Belagavi
Lord Dalhousie
Sir Walter Elliot
Sangolli Rayanna
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Next Time
In the next episode, we’ll do a folk tale again. This one is a Santali story from Jharkhand. It’s about two princesses and a lot of weird magical things that happen to them as they go off into a dark forest looking for fruits.