The Third Story that we are going to read in this series is about a strong 30 year old woman, who bravely fought against the Portugese with limited Man Power and ammunition, Rani Abbaka Chowta. Story of a Woman from the 15th Centurary.
The Portuguese Colonial power was at its peak in the 1500’s. They destroyed the mighty Zamorins of Calicut. Defeated the Sultan of Bijapur. Took away Daman from the Sultan of Gujarat, Established a colony in Mylapore, Captured Bombay and made Goa as their headquarters. And while they were at it, pretty much unchallenged, they even ruined the ancient Kapaleeswarar Temple to build a Church over it.
Their next target, of the Portuguese, was to capture the Manglore Port. During that time a small town of Ullal was ruled by a 30 year old Abbaka Chowta. The Portuguese had to capture Abbaka in order to capture the Manglore Port. The Portuguese had sent a Huge Fleet of Ships under the Command of celebrated Admiral Dom Alvaro da Silveira, the Admiral, who returned back badly injured and empty handed. Subsequently, another Portuguese Fleet was sent and only a few members of the crew managed to come back and that too injured.
After capturing the Manglore and the Fort, the Portuguese sent a huge army under Joao Peixoto, an experienced Portuguese General to Ullal. They assumed that there was no way that a 30 year old woman could withstand the huge army of Thousands with advanced weapons. When the Portuguese reached Ullal, they found it deserted. Abbakka was nowhere in sight. The Portuguese thought that it was due to their fear that Abbakka had already deserted Ullal. Just when they were relaxed, Abbakka attacked with 200 of her chosen men. This sudden attack caused a huge chaos and many Portuguese soldiers lost their lives. General Joao Peixoto was assassinated, 70 Portuguese Soldiers were captured and the remaining just ran away.
After that Rani Abbakka, rode with her men towards Manglore, that same night and not only broke inside the fort successfully but also assassinated Admiral Mascarenhas, the Chief of Portuguese power there and forced the remaining Portuguese to vacate the fort. After this she went ahead to capture the Portuguese Settlement at Kundapura about 100 kms to the north of Manglore.
Rani Abbakka Chowta, was a Jain, who fought againt the Portuguese with an army comprising of both Hindus and Muslims, around 300 years before the First War of Indian Independence in 1857.
Image Source: Live History India
Aishwarya Says:
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