Kittur Rani Channamma

About Kittur Rani Channamma:

• She was born in Kakati, a small village in today’s Belagavi district of Karnataka.
• She became queen of Kitturu (now in Karnataka) when she married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family.
• After Mallasarja’s death in 1816, his eldest son, Shivalingarudra Sarja, ascended the throne.
• Before his death in 1824, Shivalingarudra adopted a child, Shivalingappa, as the successor.
• However, the British East India Company refused to recognise Shivalingappa as the successor of the kingdom under the ‘doctrine of lapse’.
• Key facts about the Kittur Rebellion
  • John Thackery, the British official at Dharwad, launched an attack on Kittur in October 1824.
  • In this first battle British forces lost heavily and the Collector and political agent, St. John Thackeray was killed by the Kitturu forces. 
  • Two British officers, Sir Walter Elliot and Mr. Stevenson, were also taken as hostages. 
  • However, the British army again attacked the Kittur Fort and captured it.
  • Rani Chennamma and her family were imprisoned and jailed at the fort in Bailhongal, where she died in 1829.