Saturday, April 16, 2016

DHEERAN CHINNAMALAI.. THE MARTYR FROM TAMIL NADU

                          DHEERAN CHINNAMALAI.. THE MARTYR FROM TAMIL NADU

                                              Prof Dr Colonel  K Prasbhakar Rao( Retd)


          India gained freedom from the clutches of the English men   in 1947 and the struggle was not one day affair and   it cannot  be attributed entirely to MK Gandhi's efforts of non violence. Periodic   armed struggles took place from time to time for throwing out the foreign yoke. Once Tippu sultan became the ruler of Mysore after his father Hyder Ali, these struggles became intense. The English men saw Tippu as the greatest threat to their rule in India. Apart from it, the polygor system that was  started  by the Vijaynagar kings became an eye sore to the East India Company and  it  wanted to get rid of the polygors.  After Tippus death,  the major power that resisted the company vanished. Only small principalities existed and the country entered the 19 century. Veera pandya Katta bomman  was a powerful polygor who fought the British and  sacrificed his life  for the cause of liberation on 16 October 1799. Tippu sultan also died the same year while defending his capital Sirangapatnam in the last Mysore warfought against the English  and Nizams armies.
                 Dheeran Chinnamalai was the contemporary of these great warriors. He ruled over Kongunadu consisting of Dindigal, Erode, Salem and was a powerful chieftain. Second polygor war took place  between 1801 ..1802. He was trained in modern warfare by French experts alongside Tippu sultan to fight against  the East India Company and  helped in  gaining victories at  Chiteswaram,Srirangapatnam,   and  Mazahavalli.After the deaths of Tippu sultan and Veera pandya Katta bomman, he sought help of Marathas and Maruthu Pandyar to attack the British at Coimbatore in 1800. But the british  were able to stop the allied troops  before they  came to help Chinnamalai and he was compelled to fight at Coimbatore in 1800. He was defeated and fled. He organised Guerilla war against East india Compnay forces and defeated them at Kaveri in 1801, Odanilai in 1802 and Arachalur in 1804.
            All good things invariably come to an end and Chinnamalai was betrayed by his cook Nallapan and was captured by the British sepoys in 1805. He was hanged at Shankaragiri fort in Salem On 31 July 1805 along with his two brothers. It was the day of Adi peruku.
           Chinnamalai is highly revered and his statues have been erected at  Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Sivagiri.. Erode and Odanilai. A postage stamp was also released on  31 July 2005 by postal Department of Govt of India  to commemorate his memory. Erode municipal corporation has been named after him.  The fight initiated by Tippu sultan, the polygors was  taken further by Velu thambi ofTravancore cochin, Kittur Rani chennammathat finally culminated in the 1857 war of Independence that shook foundations of the British empire in India. Indian revolutionaries of Ghadar party took up thematle in the early 20 th century before WW I and Stalwarts such as Chadrasekhar Azad, Ramprasad bismil, Bagha Jatin, Bhagat singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev Continued the struggle. Finally it was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who organised a regular Indian National army in Japan during WW II  with assistance from Japan  and invaded  Eastern India  along with Japanese with some memorable victories. All these actions  made it clear to the British that their days in India are reduced and would not be able to rule over India. MK Gandhis non violent movement  for independence also  made a dent and finally they had to leave granting freedom on 15 Aug 1947. It is most tragic that Indian history books have  overlooked the contributions of these  great   martyrs and men and glorify MKG and his hench men.

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