Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate in 1760 1790 She was the first queen to fight against the British colonial power in India, even long before the famous Rani of Jhansi She is celebrated by Tamilians as Veeramangai (Brave Women)
LIFE
Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthal of the Ramnad kingdom Velu Nachiyar did not have any brothers and she was brought up like a prince, trained in martial arts, horse riding, archery and handling different weapons She was also educated in many languages including English, French and Urdu When Velu Nachiyar was 16 she married Sivagangai Mannar Muthuvaduganathur The couple had a daughter named Vellachi In 1772 the Nawab of Arcot and the British troops belonging to the East India Company united and invaded Sivagangai. They killed Muthuvadugananthur in a battle known as the Kalaiyar Koil war This is when she was drawn into battle and lost the same She escaped with her daughter with the help of the Maruthu brothers of Sivagangai and lived under the protection of Palayakaarar Kopaala Naayakkar at Virupachi near Dindigul for eight years.
In the years that Velu Nachiyar spent in Dindugal, she formed alliances and plotted her revenge against the British During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali with the aim of attacking the British, whom she did successfully fight in 1780 When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the British stored their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack a faithful follower, Kuyili, doused herself in oil, set herself alight and walked into the storehouse Velu Nachiyar formed a woman’s army named “udaiyaal” in honor of her adopted daughter, Udaiyaal, who died detonating a British arsenal.
Nachiyar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom, and ruled it for ten more years 1790 The throne was inherited by her daughter Vellacci Velu Nachiyar was the first queen to fight for the freedom from the British in India She granted powers to the Marudhu brothers to administer the country in 1780 Velu Nachiyar died a few years later, on 25 December 1796.
POPULAR CULTURE
On 31 December 2008 a commemorative postage stamp in her name was released OVM Dance Academy of Chennai presenting “VELU NACHIYAR” a Grand Dance Ballet on Sivaganga Queen Professor A.L.I., a Tamil American hip hop artist, released a song dedicated to Velu Nachiyar entitled “Our Queen” as part of his Tamil matic album in 2016.
MEMORIALS
On July 18 2014 the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa inaugurated the memorial of “veeramangai Rani Velu Nachiyar first queen to fight the British, at Soorakulam, near Sivaganga through a video conference on July 19 Ms Jayalalithaa also unveiled a life size statute of the 18 th century queen and a stupi of her guard ‘ Kuyili Official sources here said the memorial and six foot bronze statue were built at a cost of Rs 60 lakh and the five meter high stupi, located at the entrance of the mandapam, at a cost of Rs 27.5 lakh The memorial had come up on 1.09 acres with landscaping, the sources added.
Author : Sujith Kumar