3 Review(s)

The history of Tamil Nadu is filled with tales of brave men and women but there is only one woman in the state who is given the epithet, Veeramangai (brave woman) – Rani Velu Nachiyar, the 18th century Queen of Sivaganga. She is arguably the first female ruler of India to have taken on the English on the battlefield; almost a century before the more well-known Rani Laxmi Bhai of Jhansi. Unlike the Rani of Jhansi or for that matter, most Indian rulers of the 18th century, Rani Velu Nachiyar managed to defeat the English, recapture her kingdom and rule for another decade before passing on the reins of the kingdom to her successor. She was a pioneer in the induction of women into her army. Having lost her kingdom after the defeat of the Sivaganga army and the murder of her husband, Muthu Udaya Thevar in 1772, Rani Velu Nachiyar was forced to escape to the dry harsh terrain of Dindigul. In hiding, she created an all-woman Udaiyal army which played a pivotal role in the guerrilla warfare she waged against the English from 1772 to 1778. Nachiyar is probably the last ruler to have used the ancient martial arts technique of silambam and the now long forgotten weapons such as valaris and marus successfully against the technologically advanced English troops. In a daring move, she traversed through hostile English and Arcot territories incognito in 1778 to the capital of Mysore, Srirangapatna seeking assistance to throw out the English yoke from her beloved home. She impressed the Sultan of Mysore, Hyder Ali by appealing to him in the court language of Mysore. Hyder Ali offered 5000 infantry and 5000 cavalry along with 5000 pagodas every month to help her reclaim Sivaganga. The Marathu brothers and Gopal Nayakar have captured the popular imagination of the people of Tamil Nadu as courageous leaders who took on the tyranny of the English. But it is not well known that it was Rani Velu Nachiyar who mentored and made these men as they aided her in her mission against the English. The untold story of exceptional valour of the Rani Velu Nachiyar of Sivaganga is almost lost through the sieves of history and revisited here by Shubendra.