Kitturu Rani Chennamma (Kannada: ಕಿತ್ತೂರು ರಾಣಿ ಚೆನ್ನಮ್ಮ ) (born October 23, 1778 in Kakati, Kittur, Karnataka, India – died February 21, 1829) was the Queen of Kittur, India. She was best known for leading an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824. The resistance ended with her arrest and she became a symbol of the independence movement in India. In the state of Karnataka,
she is celebrated along with Abbakka Rani, Keladi Chennamma and Onake Obavva. She became queen of her native kingdom and married Raja Mallasarja, of the Desai family, and had one son. After their son's death in 1824 she adopted Shivalingappa, and made him heir to the throne. The British East India Company did not accept this and ordered Shivalingappa's expulsion, using a policy of paramountcy and complete authority (doctrine of lapse officially codified between 1848 and 1856 by Lord Dalhousie), but Chennamma defied the order. Rani Chennamma sent a letter to the governor at Bombay to plead the cause of Kittur, but Elphinstone turned her down, and war broke out. The British tried to confiscate the treasure and jewels of Kittur, valued around fifteen Lakhs of rupees. They attacked with a force of 200 men and four guns, mainly from the third troop of Madras Native Horse Artillery. In the first round of war, during October 1824, British forces lost heavily and St John Thackeray, collector and political agent, was killed by Kittur forces. Amatur Balappa, a lieutenant of Chennamma, was mainly responsible for his killing and losses to British forces. Stevenson were also taken as hostages. Rani Chennamma released them with an understanding with Chaplin that the war would be terminated but Chaplin continued the war with more forces. During the second assault, Subcollector of Sholapur, Mr. Munro, nephew of Thomas Munro was killed. Rani Chennamma fought fiercely with the aid of her lieutenant, Sangolli Rayanna, but was ultimately captured and imprisoned at Bailhongal Fort, where she died on 21 February 1829. Chennamma was also helped by her lieutenant Gurusiddappa in the war against British
The three-day Kittur Utsav takes off on an enthusiastic note with a large number of admirers of Kittur Rani Channamma, who rebelled against the British Empire in 1824. Her rebellion against the foreign rule is being celebrated as ‘Vijayothsava' by the State Government every year.
