International Referred Research Journal,June,2011,ISSN-0975-3486, RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097, VOL-II *ISSUE 21

Research PaperHistory

Armed Revolts against British Raj in Karnataka

(1700-1857)
* Ramappa ** Dr. Manjula. B. Chincholi
June, 2011
* Research Scholar, Dept of History, Gulbarga University Gulbarga, Karnataka.
** Prof, & Chairperson Dept. of History Gulbarga University Gulbarga, Karnataka.
Introduction:
Sangolli Rayanna in the same kingdom in 1829 are
Karnataka has a hoary past. It is blessed with also famous. This was followed by the Nagar Uprising
innumerable inscriptions, memorial stones and monu- of 1830-31 accompanied by similar agrarian revolts in
ments of rich historical and cultural heritage. The the Kanara District in 1831. Sarja Hanumappa Nayak
advent of British rule brought about many changes in of Tarikere also joined the insurgents.
Karnataka, as elsewhere in India.The districts of Leaders of Armed Revolts: Hyder Ali (1761-1782):
Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Bijapur, Bagalkot and
Hyder Ali was born at a place called Budhikote
Belgaum taken from the Peshwa, were merged into in Kolar district. After initial difficulties Hyder Ali
Bombay Presidency in 1818. The Kanara District, now entered services of Mysore as a soldier in the late 1740's
the districts of Uttara Kannada; Dakshina Kannada during the rule of king Krishna Raja Wodeyar II under
and Udupi; and Bellary taken from Tipu, were added the Dalavayi Nanjarajaiah. Hyder took advantage of
on to the Madras Presidency. In 1862, the Kanara the opportunities that came his way and rose step by
District was divided into two, and North Kanara (Uttara step to become the ruler of Mysore. In 1758 Hyder Ali
Kannada} was tagged on to Bombay Presidency. In defeated Marathas and took back Bangalore which
addition to the Nawab of Savanur, there were over 15 was pledged earlier by Krishna raja Wodeyar II. As he
other princes, ruling over small Kannada principali- was unable to pay the yearly tributes to the Marathas,
ties. Most of them were Maratha rulers who included Krishna Raja Wodeyar 11 thus honoared Hyder by
the princes of Jamkhandi, Ramdurg, Mudhol, Sandur, bestowing upon him the title of "Nawab Hyder Ali
Kurundawad, Jath etc. Mysore , as a nucleus of Khan Bahadur" A few years later when Mysore was
Karnataka , grew to be a ogressive State. It nurtured struck by a severe financial crisis Hyder Ali solved the
Kannada culture and encouraged Kannada literature crisis by paying the salary to the soldiers from his own
and scholarship. But for the Mysore State, Karnataka packet the stolen money of Nazir Jang and misapprowould have lost its identity. Purnayya was made the priated revenues of Dindigal came in handy. FollowChief Administrator (Diwan) during the minority of ing this event Dalavaji Nanjarajaiah retired. From now
Krishnaraja III, and later in 1810, Krishnaraja him- Hyder Ali relegated the wodeyar tobackground Hyder
Ali became the Central figure, the entire administraself assumed administration.
Armed Revolts against British Raj (1767-1858): tion revolving around him. Hyder Ali expansionist
Karnataka did not tamely submit to the foreign policy brought him into conflict with the British who
rule of the British. There were anti-British violent had established themselves in the Tamil region.
uprisings between 1800 and 1858. The earliest of these Tippu Sultan (1782-1799):
was of Dhondia Wagh, who after the fall of Tipu,
Tippu Sultan was son of Hyder Ali and born at a
unfurled the flag of revolt against the British in 1800 place called Devanahalli on 10th November1753.
from the Bidanur-Shikaripur region; many former Tippu Sultan took part in the First Anglo Mysore War.
princes joined him. His revolt spread from Jamalabad On the death of his father Hyder, Tippu Sultan continto Sode in Coastal Districts and above the Ghats upto ued the Second Anglo Mysore War and even defeated
Belgaum and Raichur Districts. He was killed at the British in the Battle of Wandiwash, Bidanur was
Konagal in September 1800, and his colleague captured by him. As the British called for peace Tippu
Krishnappa Nayak of Belur (Balam) was killed in Sultan signed the treaty of Mangalore in 1784 which
February 1802. This was followed by the Koppal Re- brought the Second Anglo Mysore War to an end. The
bellion led by one Virappa in 1819. The year-1820 saw treaty called for Mutual restitution of territories conthe Deshmukh rebellion near Bidar. A strong revolt quered and changing of prisoners of war. After the
was witnessed at Sindhagi in Bijapur District in 1824. Second Anglo Mysore War Tippu Sultan signed a treaty
The revolts of Kittur Channamma in 1824 and of with the Marathas according to which he surrendered
106

I S

I O

International Referred Research Journal,June,2011,ISSN-0975-3486,RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097,VOL-II*ISSUE 21

the regions of Nargund and Badami to the Marathas

Tippu Sultan even captured Kodagu. Tippu Sultan
attack on the Raja of Travancore and British coming
to the rescuer of the Raja as he was an ally of the British
led to the Third Anglo Mysore War (1790-92). The
First phase of the war was indecisive hence Lord
Cornwallis himself led the British force, the combined
armies of the British the Nizam and Marathas attacked, Tippu unable to fight the combined armies
faced a humiliating defeat.The British imposed on
Tippu the humiliating treaty of Sri Rangapatna which
brought the Third Anglo Mysore War to an end. The
humiliating defeat suffered by Tippu in the Third Anglo
Mysore War which was followed of the humiliating
treaty of Sri Rangapatna rankled in the minds of Tippu
and made him all the mere determined to drive out the
British.
Kittur Raani Chennamma (1778-1829): The state of
Kittur consisted of parts of the present Belgaum and
Dharwad districts. Of the many Desais administering
various territories in the area, the Kittur was one
founded in the days of Bijapur (1585) with Sampagaon
as the headquarters, from where four persons administered the region, namely Hire Mallasetty, Hire
Naganaguda, Chikka Naganagouda and Biccagatti
Chinnappa.The deceased Desai's stepmother
Chennamma (Mallasarja's wife), a daughter of the
family of Kakati Desai, was enraged by this and protested against this act. Thackeray came to talk to her
on 24th October 1824, but his high-handed attitude
enraged the heroic queen. She ordered the closure of
the fort gate. Thackeray moved canons to break the
gate open and gave an ultimatum of 20 minutes to
open it. During the war Channamma killed many of
the British officials, namely, Thackeray, Captain Black,
Captain Sewell and Lt. Dighton and also two British
officials, Elliot and Stevenson were taken as captives.
Later, Kittur Raani Chennamma wrote to Chaplin,
who was the British Commissioner for Southern division that the adopted boy might be permitted to administer Kittur and that she intended to fight no war.
Chaplin wrote Chennamma that on release of the arrested and surrender of Kittur forces, there would be
no war. Chennamma had prepared herself for a fight
and forces had been gathered in the fort. She released
the two British officials, Elliot and Stevenson on 2nd
December 1824. But Chaplin demanded the surrender of all the army within the fort.
Sangolli Rayanna (1798-1831): After the war of
Kittur, the state was annexed into the Bombay Presi-

dency of the British territories. The adopted son,

Shivalingappa was brought up by, Sangolli Rayanna,
one of the commanders in Chennamma's army. Sangolli
Rayanna was a prominent freedom fighter from
Karnataka, India. He fought the British till his death.
He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled
at the time by Raani Chennamma. Rayanna was born
in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the
Kuruba/ Dhanagar caste and hence a warrior.
When the British wanted to secede the kingdom
to their empire by putting forward the 'Doctrine of
Lapse' as Raani Chennamma's son was adopted, the
queen refused to secede her kingdom after her husband's
death. Aided by Rayanna, she fought British bravely
but was defeated and imprisoned. Sangolli Rayanna
continued to fight the British. His land was confiscated, and of what remained of it was heavily taxed. He
taxed the landlords and built up an army from the
masses. He used guerrilla tactics to attack government
property; burnt land records and extracted huge sums
of money from notorious landlords and bureaucrats.
Rayanna is considered by many historians as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare in India. He continued this
warfare till 1829.The landlords along with the British
forced his father-in-law, Laxman to cheat Rayanna.
When Rayanna was having a bath in a stream near
Dori Benachi, the British soldiers attacked, at that
moment Rayanna's sword was in Laxman's hand. When
Rayanna asked for his sword, Laxman gave it to British soldiers. Rayanna was overpowered and captured.
Thus, he was captured by treachery. Rayanna was
executed by hanging to death from a Banyan tree about
4 kilometers from Nandagad in Belgaum district. At
the time of hanging he said "My last wish is to be born
again in the country to fight against the British and
drive them away from our sacred soil".
Conclusion:
Though the uprisings were suppressed, their lessons were not totally forgotten. It was also the Nagar
Uprising (1830) which ultimately resulted in the founding of Mysore Representative Assembly in 1881. The
British learnt to respond to the grievances of the people
quickly. Local self governing bodies were founded in
towns in 1850's and 1860's. People also learnt that
without proper organization, it is not possible to free
the country from the British. The British also felt the
need to improve the means of transport and communication to enable them to meet situations of breach of
peace. The communication facilities initiated by them
mainly served their colonial economic purposes.

R E F E R E N C E
1. Kamath, Suryanath U (1987): Gazetteer of India: Karnataka State, Belgaum District. 1987. 2. Prasad, L (1983): Indian History (Modern
India). Gurgaon: Cosmos Book Hive, 1983. 3. Wikipedia (2011): http://www.wikipedia.org
R

I S

I O

107

International Referred Research Journal,June,2011,ISSN-0975-3486, RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097, VOL-II *ISSUE 21

Research Paper Law

Eradication Of Untouchability Under

The Indian Constitution
* Chincholi Basawaraj

June, 2011

* Ph.D. Research Scholar, Dept. of Law, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga - Karnataka

2. Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra :
Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra is reported
to have remonstrated with the persecution of saint
Namdev detailor by birth in the following manner "
There was no high or low with God. All were alike to
him. Never entertain the thought that I am high born,
and my neighbour is low by birth, the Gangas is not
polluted, nor in the wind tained, nor the earth rendered
untouchables, because the low born and high born battle
in the one, or breathe the other or move on the back of
the third"4. Jnaneshwar's wrote his immortal commentary on the Bhagwad gita in Marathi, by writing in
commentary in the spoken language of the people,
Jnaneshwar destroyed the barrier between the common man and the learned few. His example was followed by all other saints in the region, many of whom
rose from the so called 'lower castes'5.
Kabir, too, had attacked caste system in no
uncertain terms in one of his famous and off shoot
quoted passages he says "It is needless ask of a saint"
the caste to which he belongs, the barbar has sought
God, the washerman, and the carpenter, Even Raidas
was a seeker after God. The Rishi Swapach was tanner
by caste, Hindu and Muslims alike have achieved that
End where remain no mark of distinction"6.
3. The condition of Untouchables :
The conditions of untouchables in India stand
a position which has nothing parallel or analogous to
it in the history of mankind. Slavery is the worst form
of injustice which humanity all the word over has
known. But the implications of untouchablity to which
we in India have condemned a large section of our own
fellowmen, are in some respect worse form of slavery.
Untouchables live or are made to live out side the
village in an out of the way corner, which is the dirtiest
and filthiest part of village.
They are not come within the limits of the
temple of the Gods, which are common Gods of all the
Hindu community. They are not draw water from the
public wells of the village. They were not to enjoy the
benefits of the public rest houses. They may die of
thirst but they cannot tank or pond of the village. Even
for service of the lowest kind, they are not to enter the

INTRODUCTION :
1. Early History of the Untouchables :
We learn that the practice of untouchability rule was
started to being with the Brahminical rule in India, as
Ludwig suggests that there is a hint at casteman or
rather living man or at least the incipient conception
of caste word or 'Nam' in the hymn to Ushas (Rig Ved
1136), where it is said that Goddess "arousing one to
wield the royal power, another to follow after fame,
another to the pursuit of wealth, another to perform
services awakes all creatures to go their different paths
of life". There were few characteristics versus called
from various hymns will be more interesting and instructive than descriptions detached from the tents"1.
The fifteenth and sixteen centuries were the
formative period of the radical changes religious movement associated with saints and sants. This saints of
this period were non-Brahmins and mostly belonged
to the lower castes of the society called 'untouchables'
during this Bhakti movement led by the galaxy untouchables in medival period in India. The saints 'word'
or 'nam' Gurunanaka, Chaitanya, Kabir, Gynaneshwar,
Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram and many other male and
female Ravidas 'chamar' were the prophet and pioneers of social and religious freedom. They showed a
great independence spirit2.
With power of 'nam' as new 'society' of the
medival period, the society is known as 'Domb Society'
of the 'Sudra family' to begin with Babars campaigns
over India from the Multan as parts breaker of the
nationalism for the establishment of imperialistic
thought in India i.e.
Nam or Chamar along with saint Ravidas as
the friend of the 'National Thought', the first characteristic of their teachings is freedom from slavery to
external authority i.e. materialism3.
To begin with Guru Nanak, the Bhakti movement did not remain merely a religious movement, it
become a movement for social change against all the
socials evils which were prevalent in the society from
the early medival period of the Indian History by creating caste system, untouchability and discrimination
against women by the Brahamanas of the period.

108

I S

I O