Context:
On the 200th anniversary of Kittur Vijayotsava a commemorative Postage stamp was released at the historic Kittur Rani Channamma Stage, Kittur Fort Premises.
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
About Kittur Rani Channamma:
- She was born in Kakati, a small village in today’s Belagavi district of Karnataka.
- She became the queen of Kitturu (now in Karnataka) when she married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family.
- After Mallasarja’s death in 1816, his eldest son, Shivalingarudra Sarja, ascended the throne.
- Before his death in 1824, Shivalingarudra adopted a child, Shivalingappa, as the successor.
- However, the East India Company did not grant legitimacy to Shivalingappa as the successor to the kingdom based on the doctrine known as the ‘doctrine of lapse’.
Important points about the Kittur War
- John Thackery, the collector-cum-political officer who was stationed at Dharwad attacked Kittur during the month of October 1824
- In that fight British troops faced a string of defeats and this resulted in the Collector and Political Agent, St. John Thackeray, of the Kitturu forces committing his death.
- Two British officers, Sir Walter Elliot and Mr. Stevenson, were also hostages.
- Kittur Fort was once again captured by the British army.
- Rani Chennamma and her family were put in jail and jailed at the fort in Bailhongal, where she died in 1829.
