The Rare Woman Warrior of the Sivaganga Palace

Waheeda Bi khan

The Rare Woman Warrior of the Sivaganga Palace

A forgotten woman warrior of India’s anti-colonial struggle against the British, Sivaganga Palace will always nurture the legend of this queen who broke the politically compromising norms of her times.

The Sivagangai Palace or Gowri Vilasam of Sivaganga district, TN. Source: TourMyIndia

Rani Velu Nachiyyar stayed at Virupachi for eight years while raising a strong army with the help of Thandavaraya Pillai and the Marudhu brothers who were among the few fortunate trustworthy ones to escape being killed after the defeat of Sivagangai. Not willing to leave any stone unturned to win her kingdom back, she sought help from the nearby Dindigul administrator Sultan Hyder Ali. Though reluctant at first, the sultan agreed after meeting Rani Velu in person, stirred by her eloquent Urdu as well as strong determination. He allowed her to reside in the Dindugal Fort as a royal queen and even granted a monthly allowance for her requirements in gold pounds along with 5000 each of cavalry and infantry, well equipped with weapons per her ask. Later, she thanked the kind and timely help of Hyder Ali by constructing a masjid at Saragani as a gesture of gratitude for the Sultan who had built a temple for her earlier in his palace when she resided under his protection. The friendly ties continued when his son Tipu Sultan succeeded the Mysore state. It is said that on his coronation, she had gifted the new sultan a tiger made of gold as a mark of a sister’s affection.

Rare gems like Rani Velu not only eternalise the lands or kingdoms they belonged to but also glorify the palaces in which they nurtured patriotic zeal and became the shield to defend it. Though unsung in the archives of the popular Indian freedom struggle, the palace will always be remembered as the pious site where the first freedom fighters of India breathed, fought, and dedicated their lives for swaraj. And a few decades shy of the three-centuries-old-legend of Rani Velu Nachiyyar will reverberate in the performing arts of the land for many more centuries to come.

Rani Velu also inspired many loyal woman soldiers like the legendary Dalit Kiyuli and her own adopted daughter Udaiyaal. She executed new strategies of guerilla war, targeting the armoury store of the British to weaken the enemy force. When the queen proposed to find a way to blow up the weapons storehouse, Kiyuli stepped up to become the first woman suicide martyr to the cause. She drenched herself in ghee and, entering the armoury, torched herself to successfully blow up the entire storehouse into ash. Even Udaiyaal became a martyr by detonating an arsenal in person, further crippling the British army. In honour of this brave soldier, the queen created an all-women’s army under the name of her adopted daughter.

With such amazing war tactics and brute willpower, Rani Velu Nachiyyar led her army to victory and won back her palace and estate in 1780. The folklore of Tamil Nadu is rife with the first woman warrior’s tales referred to as Veeramangai, meaning “brave woman,” who fought against the mighty British many decades before Jhansi ki Rani even came into the pages of history. A little less than two decades after the Sivagangai victory, the exceptional queen bequeathed the throne to her only daughter Vellachi Nachiyyar after her death due to heart ailments.

The palace that witnessed the valour of Rani Velu hosted two more generations of queens after her until it paid the price of human politics and its consequent wars. The Sivaganga Palace that visitors enjoy today is not the original palace built by Sasivarna Thevar. Eventually, the constant attacks destroyed the original palace and nothing of the original architecture is known except for the high outer walls. The grand walls of 18 feet in height were intact until recently when part of the 5-feet-wide wall was broken down to replace the space with commercial shops. The old ruined palace was replaced by the current structure, constructed by Padamathur Gowry Valaabha Thevar in the early nineteenth century and is known as Gowri Vilasam. The palace the visitors enjoy today is a wonderful blend of Rajputhana and Thirumal Nayak’s architectural styles.

At sixteen, when she was married to the prince of the Marava dynasty, Muthuvadugananthur Udaiya Thevar, little did she know her destiny of becoming the first queen warrior in India to fight against the British. Her husband went on to become the brave ruler of Sivagangai for the longest term of 20 years before he was killed in the Kalaiyar Koil War against Col. Smith of the British East India Company allied with the Nawab of Arcot. This war is referred to as one of the cruelest in the regions where not even the women and children were spared from the bloodbath of defeat. Fortunately, Rani Velu was away with her daughter from the palace when it was captured and escaped to Virupachi when she heard about the defeat-in-death of her husband. The queen and her daughter were provided shelter and protection by Palayakaarar Kopaala Naayakkar.

The palaces of India are troves of legends or tales of royalty—chronicling lives within their walls—and precious archives of culture and history. The Sivaganga Palace echoes the unsung legends of the first wars in India against the British whose colonial intentions were yet to be perceived by the provincial rulers of that era. The palace is unique for housing the first warrior queen, Rani Velu Nachiyyar, who was among the rare wise ones to glean the imperialistic web the British East India Company was laying in South India. Born as an only child to indulgent royal parents of the Ramnad Kingdom, she was brought up like a prince owing to a lack of a male heir in the family. She was trained in martial arts like Valari and Simblam, apart from the use of war weapons, horse riding, and archery. Princess Velu was also a scholar who was well-versed in other languages like English, French, and Urdu, which had impressed Sultan Hyder Ali when she sought his help later in life.