History – Rani Chennabhairadevi – {Ep.210} – Stories From India – Podcast

Today’s story is about the longest-ruling Queen in Indian history. Her name was Chennabhairadevi, but her Portuguese enemies called her Raina Da Pimenta – the pepper queen

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

In this episode, we’re dipping into history. We’ve covered a fair bit of mythology and folklore, but we’ve also covered a number of historical characters. Today’s story is about one such person. Queen Chennabhairadevi. She isn’t just an ordinary queen. She ruled for 54 years, which is a remarkably long period given the life expectancy of people in 16th century India was lower than that.

Normally we might do a little bit of a biographical introduction to the main character – where they were born. How they grew up. But that might make me sound like a wikipedia article. So let’s hear it all from the perspective of two Portuguese businessmen.

Let’s call them Empresário Exposição and Aprendiz Exposição. No relation, despite the same last names. We’re just following the tradition of naming the characters based on the roles they play. Empresario literally means businessman in Portuguese, and Aprendiz is Apprentice. Exposição is the Portuguese word for exposition, because that’s what these two gentlemen were about to do.

“Are we almost there yet?” asked Aprendiz.

“Relax,” Empresario said, still patiently though this was the 100th time he must have been asked. He demonstrated much more patience than any driver in a modern family on a roadtrip.

“I’m getting worried,” Aprendiz added. “This is my first business trip. I was commissioned to buy a 100 tons of pepper from this Saluva Kingdom of and if we reach late, there might not be any pepper remaining”

“Relax,” Empresario said again. “You have to learn my boy. There are no other ships. We have complete and total control of the Indian coastline. We have a monopoly practically. We’re going to completely and utterly dominate the natives. There’s no one else here”

“I’m not worried about European competition,” Aprendiz clarified. “What’s to stop other Kingdoms from buying all the pepper the Saluva Kingdom makes?”

“We’re complete and utter . Two things,” Empresario said. “One – they’re too scared of us. We burnt down their capital at Bhatkal. We disposed of the previous King and Queen there. We’ll get cooperation from the new ruler, whoever they are. And Two – they fight too much. They are constantly at war with their neighbors. That works very well for us. And if we need a show of force – nothing to worry about – we’ve got the nation’s best and brightest here – Admiral Gama da Vasco”

Empresario was right on the second point. The Saluva Kingdom was indeed constantly fighting off challenges from some of the smaller neighboring Kingdoms. They wouldn’t sell all their pepper stock off by land.

But he was completely wrong about the first one. He was factually correct that soldiers on the previous Portuguese ship had burned down the capital city in Bhatkal. But where he was wrong was that the new ruler would be a pushover. He was going to find out pretty soon. For now though, Empresario licked his lips at the mouth watering prospect of going home with another fat load of cash.

“Splendid thing this. Pepper I mean,” he told Aprendiz. “There is so much demand for it all over Europe. People are using it to do their laundry, to polish their shoes, to melt winter snow on the carriage roads. The next thing you know they might do something utterly crazy with Pepper – like sprinkling it in their soup or something.”

That’s another thing he was right about.

But let’s cut over the negotiating table. Aprendiz and Empresario, along with a bunch of officers, sat on one side. The other side of the table was empty.

The Portuguese delegation had waited for an hour and were running out of patience. But what could they do? The butler who had ushered them in could not speak any Portuguese, or English. He just smiled at their every word and got them more food and water whenever they tried various mimes. Empresario was the only one in the delegation who seemed relaxed, which gave his apprentice some confidence.

The experienced businessman calmly addressed the butler. “Alright, let’s start at the basics, shall we? Portuguese is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe.”

The butler seemed engaged in this lesson, but Portuguese 101 would have to wait. Because finally, a translator showed up and announced the entrance of the Rani.

The Portuguese had no idea what a Rani was. And when they found out that it meant a Queen, they were surprised.

“Where’s the King?” Admiral Gama Da Vasco demanded. We’ll not be talked to by 

“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Rani Chennabhairadevi said, as she entered. “And if you’re sensible you wouldn’t care either.”

The Admiral drew himself up to his full 6 foot 4 inches and looked across the table at the lone woman who sat there calmly.

“What nonsense is this? We keep our women in the kitchen,” Gama Da Vasco said.

“Evidently. Anyway, if you’d rather deal with a man, I must bid you farewell. I would say it’s been a pleasure doing business with you gentlemen, but I’d be wrong on all counts there – it wasn’t a pleasure, we haven’t done business, and you aren’t gentlemen”

She got up to leave. “Wait, your majesty. Don’t go.” Empresario intervened.

“I know we got off to a rough start. You said some things, we said some things. But you have to understand we’ve had a long journey, and the Admiral is tired a bit. But it’s all water under the bridge now, faults on both sides and all that. Let’s talk shop”

The pepper was too valuable, and the Portuguese had to have it. And Rani Chennabhairadevi knew it. The wait, the non-Portuguese butler assignment were all part of the setup. The psychological pressure had started long before the Queen had even arrived at the negotiating table.

Rani reluctantly returned to the table, with a reluctant air that said “Hey, I’m just doing this to be a nice host”

That was the point where the businessmen took over and the Admiral took a backseat in the negotiations. Gama Da Vasco had been instructed to intervene only if the business dealings took a very unfavorable turn.

Empresario, despite his experience, was finding it hard to make any room against the tough-as-nails Rani.

“We can take the 100 sacks you have right now, and we’ll buy as many futures and options as you can manage – but you have to give us a fair market value on those. 2000 gold coins for a sack of pepper is on the pricey end. We destroyed this kingdom the last time we were here, that entitles us to at least a 20% conqueror’s discount. Wouldn’t you agree, Admiral?”

The thinly veiled threat was the Admiral’s cue to nod his head vigorously. And to point out that the previous King who had been defeated was Rani’s younger sister’s husband. That should get them an additional 5% discount for deep personal connection.

“25% isn’t a very round number so let’s bring it up to 30%.” He added. “Of course, if you don’t believe it was us that destroyed your sister’s and brother in law’s kingdom, I have a certificate somewhere. I bet it’s in the hold of my ship, amongst the two hundred and fifty of the latest model Fortmaster-1600 cannons specifically adapted to destroying Indian coastal forts”

That sort of a threat might have worked on a lesser Queen.

“Ooh nice, I’ve always wanted to have some of those cannons as decorations in the palace. I’ve never felt like paying the hefty price tag though. I was telling my minister the other day – the only way I’m getting one is if I can capture a few as spoils of war. Now speaking about the discounts, the best I can do is a 1% discount. That’s because I have a coupon left over from Diwali. I know Diwali was over a few weeks ago. but just between you and I, who’s to know that we hadn’t locked in the Diwali special rate for you? Now let me find it, I knew it was somewhere here, right next to this letter from the Adil Shah of the Bijapur sultanate promising me 10,000 infantry and cavalry men, and 600 custom-built ShipMaster cannons, specifically adapted for land-to-sea warfare”

Gama da Vasco’s heart skipped a beat. “Not Adil Shah? The Bane of the Baptizers? The Fright of the foreigners? The one who eats Portuguese for breakfast, and the French for lunch?”

Yup, that was the same Adil Shah that Chennabhairadevi had in mind. And just because she liked seeing how nervous the Admiral had become, she threw in a 10% markup on her extremely low prices. Just to sweeten the deal. Only for her people of course. The Portuguese delegation didn’t need sweetened deals – they were looking for spices after all.

The Portuguese delegation returned. Everyone was especially quiet. Even when Aprendiz innocently asked Empresario if they had completely and utterly dominated the natives yet.

The Portuguese knew they were beaten, but these Admirals are made of stern stuff. It’s not like them to forget and forgive a personal humiliation. A humiliation of the country – maybe. But not personal humiliation.

Lots of time passed, and then finally the Admiral was finally going to scratch his seven year itch. And when I say “Seven year itch” – that’s not a reference to the myth that happiness in marriage begins to decline after a specific number of years. And it’s also not a reference to the Old Hollywood movie of that same name. 

It’s just that it had been exactly 7 years since Rani Chennabhairadevi rose to the throne. It was 7 years since she sat across a table of 20 experienced military and business folks strategists and given them a schooling. What made it worse in the misogynistic Admiral’s mind was that she was a woman. He’d never hear the end of it down in the Boys’ club.

The Admiral had spent these 7 years building up his forces. And he hoped that there wouldn’t be a regime change in Suvela, so he could personally wipe the smile off of Rani Chennabhairadevi’s face. To his surprise, it was his own country that had a new ruler.

The outgoing King was John the third, also nicknamed the “Colonizer”. His political stance suited Admiral Gama da Vasco just fine. The new King was called Sebastian I and nicknamed the Sleeping King. That title alone had not raised the Admiral’s hopes very much, but 

Ironically, it was the Sleeping King that supplied the extra arms and ships that the Admiral asked for. Now I’d like to say that the Admiral needed to convince the King of a financial outcome from launching a war against Chennabhairadevi. The cost of pepper would drop to almost nothing, and they would get a bunch of free labor and so on, and their churches would have a lot more members and donors. But that’s not it. You see – Sebastian I was the grandson of John the third, the previous King. And he was three years old. I’m not sure what the turning point was in the mind of little Sebastian the first. Maybe the Admiral only had to offer a lollipop. Come to think of it, the name Sleeping King makes more sense now that you realize he was just a toddler.

Anyway, toddler or not, the cannons in the Admiral’s warships were definitely not toys. The Admiral lashed out – seven years of bottled up rage was letting itself out now. And while that was happening, his warships were letting in water. He sighed as he realized that the shots he had heard weren’t echoes of his cannons. The enemy had retaliated almost immediately.

Chennabhairadevi hadn’t simply been twiddling her fingers these last 7 years, as the Admiral had secretly hoped. She had invested in having guards keep watch on the coast – night and day. At the first sight of the gunports being opened on the Portuguese ship they had sounded the alarm. Within seconds of the first cannon being fired at them, they had fired back.

There are many ways that a warship can overpower a coastal fort. And all of those rely on the element of surprise. The Admiral was in deep trouble now. And embarrassment too. It was one thing for a soldier to face an honorable end on the battlefield. It was another to be hauled out of the water in a fishing net by his enemies. And add to that further the insult from a couple of fishermen casually remarking that the Admiral wasn’t even fit for the Chum bucket.

The Admiral complained bitterly at the negotiating table – couldn’t these natives just understand? He was trying to bring the finest bits of western civilization for them. He was trying to make her life better. She didn’t have to accept conversion herself, but must she keep building all those places of worship for the locals? It made her. If she just stopped that there’d be so much progress! In time, her kingdom would become the melting pot of Indians and foreigners alike – particularly the part in the north with the nice beaches. What is it called, I forgot?

Goa, she reminded her guest. But they should get on with it. She didn’t have time for all this silly banter. She was late to a ribbon cutting ceremony. And it wasn’t a particularly important one. In fact it was going to be positively boring, but she didn’t want to keep him long. So could he just sign on the dotted line on this new treaty, and then he could still make it back on the evening tide, which was excellent to launch the sailboats they were lending him for a massive premium.

And of course, the new treaty had spiked pepper prices too. You could say that Chennabhairadevi had liberally peppered it with taxes and fees. There was the invasion tax and invasion repulsion tax, at 100% each. The Admiral said that he was extremely annoyed at having to pay 200% more. 

And then the Queen clarified that 200% wasn’t quite it. The invasion repulsion tax applied on top of the new amount including the invasion tax, so it really was 300% more. “Don’t they teach basic math in military school?” she asked him sweetly.

The Portuguese delegation returned, defeated once again. In that delegation was a priest whom they had brought along with promises of millions of Indians ripe for conversion. Despite the unexpected loss, the priest wasn’t left completely idle either. He performed the last rites for the fallen soldiers. It took a while.

If the Admiral had given up at that point, things would have been well. He would have gotten a comfortable desk job back home. Or maybe operating the ferry to the Azores. But it was his own stubbornness that made him try again. This time he had to wait longer – 11 more years. By then he had acquired enough reputation back. And without much of a strong written record, his past failures were forgotten as more of his contemporaries began to retire. 

And so it was that in 1570, Admiral Gama Da Vasco, set out with a fresh set of warships. This time they were cleverly disguised as cargo ships. The plan was for the soldiers to stay hidden in the hold of the ship. At night they would emerge stealthily and take over the fort. Should be a very quick victory, the admiral thought.

It did not work. What stopped them was just a clever observation by the port worker that these ships weren’t as empty as they should have been. The Portuguese should have been bringing a tiny bit of gold by weight compared to the amount of pepper they were hauling away. So why were these ships so weighted down? He raised the alarm secretly.

The Admiral had been correct about a quick victory, but the winner wasn’t the side that he might have preferred. Rani Chennabhairadevi’s soldiers had no trouble in wrapping up victory. It made it easier when they discovered that all they had to do was to use the bellows to spread the pepper around the hold. A soldier who is constantly sneezing is not very good at combat, as the Admiral discovered that night.

Ultimately, the businessman Empresario was proved right. It was the infighting that brought down Rani Chennabhairadevi’s Kingdom. For too long, she had been resisting the aggressions of the Keladi and Bilgi kingdoms nearby.

And she might have gone on resisting had the two kingdoms not joined forces.

Chennabhairadevi was captured and jailed. And she passed away in captivity. 

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Her legacy is largely forgotten these days. But having ruled for 54 years makes her one of the longest rulers in India, and indeed the Indian Queen with the longest rule.
The Portuguese called her Raina De Pimento – which literally means the Pepper Queen.

In case it wasn’t obvious – Gama Da Vasco is a figment of my own imagination. A lot of the details of this story are murky. Though I know what exactly happened here, historians are confused enough as it is, without me trying to convince people about what exactly happened.

Many of the relics of her capital city survive to this day along coastal Karnataka and South Goa. There are some links to these places in the show notes, check them out.

Photos:
A bronze statue of Rani Chennabhairadevi – link
Mirjan fort – link, another link

Some articles:
Queen of Gersoppa – link
Raina da Pimenta – link

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll talk about an avatar of Vishnu that doesn’t get as much attention as the other more popular Dashavatars, or 10 avatars. We’re going to talk about Hayagriva, another of Vishnu’s avatars that is part human, part horse. But not exactly a Centaur – quite the opposite in fact.

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Thank you again for the feedback and heartwarming comments Samay, Rez, Vaishnavi, and Juhee, Vamsi!

Juhee – I agree, and I share your excitement – it’s been an interesting journey and we’ve all together gotten this far in the Ramayana – we’re just about at the point of the main battle now.

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