Forgotten Patriots

Veerapandiya Kattabomman

Veerapandiya Kattabomman was born to Jagaveera Kattabomman and Arumugattammal on January 3, 1760.He was fondly called ‘Karuthaiah’ (the black prince).On February 2, 1790, Veerapandiyan, 30, became the king of Panchalankurichi as Veera Pandia Kattabomman supposedly the 47th ruler of the region and the 5th ruler from the Kattabomman clan and a Palya-karrar (or Polygar) of the Madurai Nayak kingdom.
In 1750’s to a savage warrior Muhammed Yusuf Khan (alias Marutha Nayagam), who defeated and killed many of the Polygars and later got himself killed by the Arcot - British forces.
Many of the Polygars submitted, with the exception of Katta-bomman and a few others who formed an alliance with the Maruthu Brothers of Sivagangai. Kattabomman refused to pay his dues and for a long time refused to meet Jackson Durai the Collector of the East India Company. Finally, he met Jackson at Ramalinga Vilasam, the palace of Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram. The meeting turned violent and ended in a skirmish in which the Deputy Commandant of the Company’s forces, Clarke was slain. Kattabomman and his men fought their way to freedom and safety, but Thanapathi Pillai, Kattabomman’s secretary was taken prisoner. Jackson was blamed and new collector was appointed.He wrote to Kattabomman calling, for a meeting on 16 March 1799.
Kattabomman wrote back citing the extreme drought conditions for the delay in the payment of dues and also demanded that all that was robbed off him at Ramanathapuram be restored to him. The Collector wanted the ruling house of Sethupathis to prevent Kattabomman from aligning himself with the enemies of the Company and decided to attack Kattabomman.The British also instigated his long time feuding neighbor Ettayapuram Poligar to make provocative wars over Kattabomman on their long pending territorial disputes.
Kattabomman refused to meet the Collector and a fight broke out. Under Major Bannerman, the army stood at all the four entrances of Panchalankurichi’s fort. At the southern end, Lieutenant Collins was on the attack. When the fort’s southern doors opened, Kattabomman and his forces audaciously attacked the corps stationed at the back of his fort, and slew their commander Lt. Collins.The British after suffering heavy losses, decided to wait for reinforcements and heavy artillery from Palayamkottai. Sensing that his fort could not survive a barrage from heavy cannons, Kattabomman left the fort that night.
A price was set on Kattabomman’s head.17 men of kattabomman were taken prisoners.Veerapandiya Kattabomman hid in so many places.Bannerman ordered the Raja of Pudukkottai to arrest Kattabomman. Accordingly, Kattabomman was captured and on October 16, 1799 the case was taken up (nearly three weeks after his arrest near Pudukkottai).After a summary trial, Kattabomman was hanged unceremoniously on a Tamarind tree in Kayathar (near Thirunelveli).
The Fort of Panchalankurichi was razed to the ground and all of Kattabomman’s wealth was looted by the English soldiers. Few years later, after the second Polygar war, the site of the captured fort was ploughed up and sowed with castor oil and salt so that it should never again be inhabited by the orders of the colonial government.

Sangolli Rayanna

Sangolli Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli on 15-Aug-1798. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma. When the British wanted to secede the kingdom to their empire by putting forward the doctrine of lapse as Rani Chennamma’s son was adopted, the queen refused to secede her kingdom after her husband’s death. Aided by Rayanna, she fought British bravely but was defeated and imprisoned.
Sangolli Rayanna continued to fight the British. His land was confiscated, and of what remained of it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up an army from the masses. He used guerrilla tactics to attack government property; burnt land records and extracted huge sums of money from notorious landlords and bureaucrats. Rayanna is considered by many historians as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare in India. He continued this warfare till 1829.The landlords along with the British forced his father in law Laxman to cheat Sangolli Rayanna. When Rayanna was having a bath, the British army attacked. By that time Rayanna's sword was in Laxman's hand. When Rayanna asked him to give the sword, Laxman gave it to British army officers.He was captured by treachery and hanged in Nandagad in Belgaum district on 26-Jan-1831.
At the time of being hanged he said "My last wish is to be born again in the country to fight against the British and drive them away from our sacred soil".

Lakshmi Bai-1st war of independence

Lakshmi bai, The Rani(Queen) of Jhansi born on 19 November 1835,known as Jhansi Ki Rani,the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi,was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India. She has gone down in Indian history as a legendary figure,the firebrand who began the Indian Revolution against British Colonialism.
She was born as Manikarnika and was married to GangadharRao Maharaj of Jhansi. After the king's death, British East India Company,in March 1854, asked her to take a pension of 60,000 rupees and ordered to leave the palace at the Jhansi fort.she determined not to give up Jhansi. She strengthened the defences and assembled a volunteer army. Women were also given military training. Rani's forces were joined by other warriors and their forces, often from nearby villages or other regions/kingdoms. She was a great freedom fighter of India.Lakshmi Bai’s forces could not hold out and British were able to breach the city walls and capture the city. Yet Lakshmi Bai escaped over the wall at night and fled from her city, surrounded by her guards, many of whom were from her women’s military.She again gathered strength and fought against British.
She died on 18 June 1858 during the battle for Gwalior with 8th Hussars that took place in Kotah-Ki-Serai near Phool Bagh area of Gwalior. She donned warrior's clothes and rode into battle to save Gwalior Fort, about 120 miles west of Lucknow in what is now the state of Uttar Pradesh. The British captured Gwalior three days later. In the report of the battle for Gwalior, General Sir Hugh Rose commented that the rani "remarkable for her beauty, cleverness and perseverance" had been "the most dangerous of all the rebel leaders." The Indian National Army created its first female unit, it was named after her.

Alluri Sita Rama Raju also known as Aluri Rama Raju, Rama Chandra Raju

He was born in Pandrangi, near Visakhapatnam, his mother's native place on July 4, 1897 and lived mainly in Mogallu, West Godavari district both in Andhra Pradesh.He was moved by the plight of the tribal people. The Madras Forest Act of 1882 placed restrictions on their free movement in the forest areas and prevented them from engaging in traditional Podu shifting cultivation and using of the forest produce for their subsistence and livelihood. The repressive measures and policies of the British Raj, coupled with the deeds of the greedy contractors who exploited and oppressed the tribals of the hill areas of the Visakhapatnam district, brought Alluri Sita Rama Raju into direct conflict with the bureaucrats and police who supported these contractors.
Sita Rama Raju carried out his campaign in the border areas of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Inspired by the patriotic zeal of the revolutionaries in Bengal, and the decisions taken by them at a meeting in Chittagong in 1921, Sita Rama Raju raided many police stations in and around Chintapalli, Krishna-devi-peta and Raja-vommangi, carrying off guns and ammunition, and killing British army officers, including Scott Coward and Hites, near Damana-palli. Between August and October 1922, he and his men attacked Chintapalli, Rampachodavaram, Rajavommangi, Addateegala and Annavaram police stations and blasted Chintapalli police station. Despite having fewer men and weapons, Alluri and his men exacted tremendous damage on the British, as they were much more familiar with the hilly terrain and adept in guerilla tactics. In the 1920s, the British Raj offered a Rs. 10,000 award for his capture. Under the leadership of Saunders, the British deployed a company of the Assam Rifles, near Pedagaddapalem, in December 1922. Sita Rama Raju, who had by then gone underground, resurfaced after about four months and continued the fight, strengthened by tribal volunteers, using bows and arrows. He was assisted by two brothers, Mallu Dora and Gantam Dora, who were tribal leaders. On September 18, 1923, Sita Rama Raju raided the Annavaram police outpost. Subsequently, Mallu Dora was arrested. The Government entrusted the task of containing Sita Rama Raju's activities to Rutherford, the then Collector of Visakha patnam District who fired the first salvo when his forces arrested Surya Narayana Raju Pericherla, popularly known as Aggiraju, a strong follower of Sita Rama Raju. The British campaign lasted nearly one year from December 1922. Sita Rama Raju was trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli. He was tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle in Mampa village. This was an irony, as the British were proud of their justice system but followed the law of the jungle in this instance. After the martyrdom of Alluri, the tribal revolt lost its momentum and petered off by October 1923.
He was a young Indian revolutionary during the freedom struggle and he remains an inspiring model of people who fought oppression. His father was from Mogallu in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India and was an official photographer in the central jail at Rajahmundry. Raju led the ill-fated Rampa Rebellion joined by many tribal leaders and other sympathisers in the fight against the British from 1922 to 1923. He was adoringly referred as Manyam Veerudu (Hero of the jungles) by the local people.

Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari, better known as Chandrasekhar Azad

Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari was born on 23 July 1906 in village Bhavra in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.His father was Pt. Sitaram Tiwari and his mother was Jagrani Devi. Chandrashekhar Azad was deeply troubled by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. In 1921, when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation movement, he actively participated in the protest movement. He was arrested and received his first punishment at the age of fifteen for this act of civil disobedience. When the magistrate asked him his name, he said "Azad" (meaning free). For this, he was sentenced to fifteen lashes. With each stroke of the whip, young Chandrasekhar shouted "Bharat Mata Ki Jai." From that point onwards, Chandrashekhar assumed the title of Azad and came to be known as Chandrashekhar Azad.
He formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and was mentor to revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Batukeshwar Dutt, and Rajguru. HSRA's goal was full Indian independence and wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. He was involved in numerous such activities like the Kakori Train Robbery (1925), the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train (1926), and the shooting of John Poyantz Saunders at Lahore (1928) to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.
On February 27, 1931 Chandrashekhar Azad met two of his comrades at Alfred Park, Allahabad. He was recognised by a police, the police surrounded the park and ordered Chandrashekhar Azad to surrender. Azad fought alone and killed three policemen but was shot in the thigh. After nearly exhausting his ammunition and foreseeing no means of escape, he shot himself in the head with his last bullet, , keeping his pledge to never be captured alive. It is said that the Indian soldiers who saw him die did not approach his dead body for about two hours. He had always induced the guilt of Indian soldiers and policemen working for the British government, wherever he went, claiming that 'they were not of true Indian blood'. The secret file related to Azad is preserved in C.I.D. Headquarters,1,Gokhale Marg,Lucknow. His COLT pistol is displayed at the Allahabad Museum along with some very rare photographs of his.

Rabindranath Tagore

Born on 7 May 1861, in the Jorasanko house at 6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Calcutta, Rabindranath was the fourteenth child of Devendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Sarada Devi (1826/27-1875). The family settled in Calcutta round about the time the East India Company had founded the city.Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship. For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution.Over the decade (1921-30), Ranbindranath’s main preoccupation was to establish the Visva-Bharati on a sound foundation and for this purpose he undertook a number of tours at home and abroad. Among the foreign countries covered were: China and Japan (1924), South America (1925), Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, the Balkan countries and Egypt (1926), South-east Asian counties (1927) and Canada (1929). In 1930, he delivered the Hibbert Lectures at Oxford-his subject being “Religion of Man”. He is the man behind the national anthem of both India and Bangladesh.

Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose was born January 23, 1897 in cuttak.Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms, but had to resign from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi and after openly attacking the Congress' foreign and internal policies. He established a separate political party, the All India Forward Bloc. He formed the Azad Hind Government in exile, regrouped and led the Indian National Army in battle against the allies at Imphal and in Burma.
He is presumed to have died on 18 August 1945 in a plane crash over Taiwan. However, contradictory evidence exists regarding his death in the accident.

Lal bahdur Sastri

Lal Bahadur Shrivastav Shastri was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a significant figure in the Indian independence movement. He was born in Mughalsarai,on 2 October 1904. He revered Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Indian nationalist, social reformer and freedom fighter. After hearing a speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Varanasi in 1915, he dedicated his life to the service of the country. During the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, he joined processions in defiance of the prohibitory order. He was arrested but let off as he was a minor. In 1930, he threw himself into the freedom struggle during Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha. He was imprisoned for two and a half years.Later, he worked as the Organizing Secretary of the Parliamentary Board of U.P. in 1937. In 1940, he was sent to prison for one year, for offering individual Satyagraha support to the freedom movement. On 8 August 1942, Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India speech at Gowalia Tank in Mumbai, demanding that the British leave India. Shastri, who had just then come out after a year in prison, traveled to Allahabad. For a week, he sent instructions to the freedom fighters from Jawaharlal Nehru's hometown, Anand Bhavan. A few days later, he was arrested and imprisoned until 1946. Shastri spent almost nine years in jail in total. During his stay in prison, he spent time reading books and became familiar with the works of western philosophers, revolutionaries and social reformers.
Later he served our country as cabinet minister and was prime minister after Jawahar lal Nehru.He expired on 11 January 1966.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Patel was a political and social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. He was called as "Iron Man Of India" In India and across the world, he was often addressed as Sardar.He was born in Gujarat 31st October 1875.
Patel was deeply impressed when Gandhi defied the British in Champaran for the sake of the area's oppressed farmers.He was particularly attracted to Gandhi's inclination to action—apart from a resolution condemning the arrest of political leader Annie Besant, Gandhi proposed that volunteers march peacefully demanding to meet her.He gave a speech in Borsad in September 1917, encouraging Indians nationwide to sign Gandhi's petition demanding Swaraj—independence—from the British. Meeting Gandhi a month later at the Gujarat Political Conference in Godhra, Patel became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha—a public body which would become the Gujarati arm of the Indian National Congress—at Gandhi's encouragement.
He participated activly in satyagraha,dandi salt march and quit india movements during which he was called "SARDAR."
As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organised relief for refugees in Punjab and Delhi, and led efforts to restore peace across the nation. Patel took charge of the task to forge a united India from the 565 semi-autonomous princely states and British-era colonial provinces. Using frank diplomacy backed with the option (and the use) of military action, Patel's leadership enabled the accession of almost every princely state. Hailed as the Iron Man of India, he is also remembered as the "Patron Saint" of India's civil servants for establishing modern all-India services. Patel was also one of the earliest proponents of property rights and free enterprise in India.He started a movement Aarzi Hukumat against Pakisthani Leaders,Operation Polo against Nizams of Hyderabad,... and his role was prominant to unite INDEPENDENT INDIA.By which, he was called THE IRON MAN OF INDIA.
After suffering a massive heart attack for the second time, he died on 15 December 1950.