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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