By Kamalika Majumder
She was indefatigable,
Her every gesture, every elegant move,
Bespoke royalty.
Head held high, chin up, not to give up,
She was the Queen of Kittur, she was Rani Chennamma.
Righteousness was her religion.
So she raised arms against the Draconian Doctrine of Lapse,
And the battle was won.
Yet, she had a heart of gold.
Commissioner Chaplain pleaded,
To release Stevenson and Elliot,
So did she, set them free from her hold.
But O naive Queen,
Trust the shifts of air,
The hot droughts, the nip of the cold.
Never trust the smooth smile, fair,
Or the glib words of a foe,
Those are apt to feign.
Chaplain committed to the cessation of war,
Not to interfere,
In the princely state's affairs.
As the Queen showed clemency,
Chaplain forgot the promise, the treaty.
Secretly seized the fort of Kittur,
Captured was the Queen,
Though she fought fiercely.
It was eras before the Sepoy Mutiny.
That a regional Queen waged a war,
To settle the wrongs of the Company.
She fought, she won, she lost,
Unwavered, she moved on- the pioneer.
(Also known as Kittur Rani Chennamma, the Rani (queen) of Kittur, she is hailed as one of the first female rulers to have rebelled against the British and is famous for the 1824 revolt against the East India Company, who lost the first battle against her. This feat turned her into a folk hero in the Karnataka culture as well as the prime symbol of the independence movement.)