Article Title: Rani Velu Nachiyar
03-01-2023
History & Art and Culture Prelims Plus
Why is in news? PM pays tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar on her birth anniversary
She was born on January 3, 1730, in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, India,
She was the first queen to fight against the British colonial power in India.
She is known by Tamils as Veeramangai.
She was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthal of the Ramnad kingdom.
She was trained in war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam (fighting using the stick), horse riding and archery.
She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English and Urdu.
She married the king of Sivagangai named Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar, with whom she had a daughter.
When her husband was killed by British soldiers, she was drawn into battle in 1780.
She escaped with her daughter and waged war against the British in an alliance with Hyder Ali and other feudal lordslike Marudhu brothers and Thandavarayan Pillai.
In collaboration with Hyder Ali and Gopala Nayaker, she waged a war against the British and emerged victoriously.
When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the EIC stored some their ammunition, Her commander Kuyili made a suicide attack on the ammunition depot, blowing it up. Nachiyar reinherited the kingdom of her husband, and ruled it for ten more years.
In 1790, she was succeeded by her daughter Vellacci. She granted powers to her daughter with the Marudu brothers to help with the administration of the kingdom.
Velu Nachiyar died a few years later, on 25 December 1796.
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