The Forgotten Story of The Digambat Jain Rani Abbakka Chowta,

the Fearless Warrior Queen of Tulu Nadu against

Portuguese State of India (Estado Português da Índia, EPI)

By Kinjal Shah, Research Associate Indo Nordic Author’s Collective

Dr. Uday Dokras-Phd,Stockholm,SWEDEN
Jainism traces its origins to much beyond the 7th-8th century BCE. It had received patronage
from several Magadha kings in the early years.Earliest evidence of Jainism influence in south
India comes from when Emperor Chandragupta Maurya is said to have spent his last days (3rd
century BCE) in Shravanabelagola after becoming a disciple of Jain Monk Badrabahu.

Later on as the influence of Jainism grew, it started receiving patronage from various kingdoms
like Kadambas and Chalukyas. And as some of the kings started converting into Jainism it was
natural that the general population would follow. Hence Jainism grew in popularity in the
Kannada region.The Tulunadu kings would also come in contact of Jainism eventually.
The Alupa’s who ruled Tulunadu between (5th Century CE to 15th century CE) would have Jain
kings in their later periods.

Evidence of Jain influence in Tulunadu has been found regularly from 7th Century CE
onwards in the form of various inscriptions that were found all over
Tulunadu. Moodabidri, Karkala, Varanga, Barkuru (The seat of Alupa Power) developed as
major centers of Jain influence after the 10th century. Elsewhere in the country Jainism started
declining with the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism. With the Hoysala kings embracing

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Shaivism, Shravanabelagola would eventually loose its importance as a Jain center
to Moodabidri and Karakla.

With the Alupa kings patronizing Jainism the local landowning chieftains and nobles also
embraced Jainism and then followed by the general populace. Since Jainism did not insist on a
mother language or culture from where it traces its origin (For example Islam would bring the
influence of Arabic language and the culture of Arabia to wherever the religion spread) Jainism
would adopt to the local culture of the land to where it spreads to, thus forming unique Jain
communities and customs native to that particular region. Thus Tulu Jains would develop as a
unique community with the local customs and language intact. Add to the fact there was no mass
migration of Jain people from other parts of the country to Tulu region which could have brought
influence of other languages (like in the instance of the migration of GSB community into
Tulunadu), instead Tulu Jains were the local population who just embraced Jainism just like in
the rest of the country.

Jains in Tulunadu would usually belong to the upper class land owning part of the society.
With the local chieftains and kings all being Jains, a prominent example being Rani Abbakka
Chowta of Ullal.

After the 15–16th century with the decline of the Vijayanagara empire and then after the
resulting takeover of the Ikkeri Nayakas, Jainism would start to decline in Tulunadu albeit not
completely. And the population of Jains would reduce gradually over the centuries. With some of
the Jain population converting to Hindusim.

The Bunt community shares a close relationship with Tulu Jains. A lot of the Bunt
community is said have been Jains at some point of time and might have reverted back to
Hindusim later. The two communities still to-date has common surnames
like Chouta, Bhandari etc; and customs like Aliyasanthaana. There is even a local folk legend of
a Jain king resorting to eat peacock meat in order to cure a disease thus having to leave Jainism

to become a Bunt.

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 Image Source - Mahamastakabhisheka begins in Dharmastala

So summarily Tulu Jain's were the indigenous people of Tulunadu who came under the influence
of Jainism and enjoyed royal patronage for centuries and then with its slow receding in influence
, their population also reduced to present day numbers, Albiet they still play a vital role in the
Tulu society.
Tulu Nadu, also called as Parashurama Srishti, is a region on the southwestern coast of India.
The Tulu people, known as 'Tuluva' (plural 'Tuluver'), speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language,
are the preponderant ethnic group of this region. South Canara, an erstwhile district and a
historical area, encompassing the undivided territory of the contemporary Udupi, Dakshina
Kannada and Kasaragod districts, forms the cultural area of the Tuluver. Historically, Tulu Nadu
lay between the Gangavali River (Uttara Kannada district) in the north and the Chandragiri
River (Kasaragod district) in the south. Currently, Tulu Nadu consists of the Udupi and Dakshina
Kannada districts of Karnataka and the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala up to
the Chandragiri River.
This region is not an official administrative entity. However, the Tulu Nadu state movement has
been gaining momentum since the Indian States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Mangalore, the fourth largest(In terms of area&population) and a major city of Karnataka, and
largest city of Tulu Nadu. Udupi and Kasaragod are the other major cities of this region.
The Jain Bunt as mentiomned earlier are a Jain community from tulu nadu in Karnataka, India.
They are traditionally defined as a subdivision of the Jain community. It is believed that the Jain
Bunts also have the highest per capita income in India. They have a feudal and martial heritage, and
many erstwhile royalty of the Tulu Nadu region were Jain Bunts.
Some Jain Bunts are hereditary trustees and administrators of Hindu Temples, an example being
at the Dharmasthala Temple, whose hereditary administrators are the Pergade family.
Achieving moksha or liberation is the highest goal of life for the Jains. Jain monastics and
renouncers of worldly life are highly revered, especially Bahubali, a king who turned into an
ascetic. His virtues are greatly extolled in legends. Huge, monolithic statues have been erected
by the Jain Bunts in his honor throughout their recorded history. The oldest among them is
located in Karkala. Standing about 42 feet tall, it was erected by the Jain Bunt as per the wishes
of a pontiff named Lalitakeerti in 1432. Another statue of Bahubali standing about 35 feet was
erected in Venur in 1604 by the Jain Bunt ruler Timma Ajila. The most recently erected statue
lies in Dharmasthala and is about 39 feet tall. Mahamastakabhisheka rituals are held once in 12
years at the site of these statues. Jain temples, called basadi and derasar, are numerous in the
region and were built by various Jain Bunt rulers. The most famous among them is the Saavira
Kambada Basadi located in Moodabidri. Jain Bunts are strict vegetarians and do not consume
anything after sunset or eat root vegetables.

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Before the turn of the 16th century, in Portugal, the westernmost country in Europe, Portugal
was the first to significantly probe the Atlantic Ocean, colonizing the Azores and other nearby
islands, then braving the west coast of Africa. In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias
was the first to sail around the southern tip of Africa, and in 1498 his countryman Vasco da
Gama repeated the experiment, making it as far as India. Portugal would establish ports as far
west as Brazil, as far east as Japan, and along the coasts of Africa, India and China.Portugal
encompassed the Globe in the 16th & 17th Centuries.

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It would be a serious error to think that Portugal's global ambitions were purely benevolent, or
even economic, says UCLA historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam: "The Portuguese drive was not
simply to explore and trade. It was also to deploy maritime violence, which they knew they were
good at, in order to tax and subvert the trade of others, and to build a political structure, whether
you want to call it an empire or not, overseas." Indeed, the exhibition catalog offers troubling
reminders of misdeeds and even atrocities committed in Portugal's name: the boatful of Muslims
set ablaze by the ruthless Vasco da Gama, the African slaves imported to fuel Brazil's economy.

When different cultures have encountered each other for the first time, there has often been
misunderstanding, bigotry, even hostility, and the Portuguese were not alone in this regard. The
Japanese called the Portuguese who landed on their shores "Southern Barbarians" (since they
arrived mostly from the south). Some of the most intriguing objects in the exhibit are brass
medallions depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Not long after Portuguese missionaries
converted many Japanese to Christianity, Japanese military rulers began persecuting the
converts, forcing them to tread on these fumi-e ("pictures to step on") to show they had
renounced the barbarians' religion.

Portuguese in India
The first of the European troop to set foot on Indian soil were the Portuguese. The Portuguese
king Manuel I sent his navigator Vasco da Gama, to find a sea route to India via the Cape of
Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa. His landing in India in the year 1498 changed the course
of Indian history.Portuguese merchants set up a trade empire in the Indian Ocean by capturing
and fortifying all major trading ports including India, Muscat, Mozambique, Sri Lanka,
Indonesia and even Macau in China. In a short time, the Portuguese became the masters of trade
all over the coast. Later they began to tax trade in the Indian Ocean, which until then was duty
free. With their strong naval fleet they established supremacy and retained power in the maritime
trade for over a century.

The State of India (Portuguese: Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of
India (Estado Português da Índia, EPI) or simply Portuguese India (Índia Portuguesa), was
a colonial state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a sea route to
the Indian Subcontinent by the Kingdom of Portugal. The capital of Portuguese India served as
the governing centre of a string of Portuguese fortresses and settlements scattered along
the Indian Ocean.

5
The first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, established his headquarters at what was then Cochim,
the present-day Cochin (Kochi), subsequent Portuguese governors were not always of viceroy
rank. After 1510, the capital of the Portuguese viceroyalty was transferred to Velhas
Conquistas (Old Conquests area) of present-day Goa and Damaon.[1] Present-
day Mumbai (Bombay) was part of Portuguese India as Bom Baim until it was ceded to
the British Crown in 1661, who in turn leased Bombay to the East India Company. Until the 18th
century, the Portuguese governor in Goa had authority over all Portuguese possessions in the
Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to southeast Asia. In 1752, Mozambique got its own separate
government, and in 1844 the Portuguese Government of India stopped administering the territory
of Macau, Solor and Timor, and its authority was confined to the colonial holdings on
the Konkan and Malabar coasts of Western India.

At the time of the British Raj's dissolution in 1947, Portuguese India was subdivided into three
districts located on modern-day India's western coast, sometimes referred to collectively as Goa:
namely Goa; Damão, which included the inland enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli; and Diu.
Portugal lost effective control of the enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954, and finally the
rest of the overseas territory in December 1961, when it was annexed by India under
the Nehru Government. In spite of this, Portugal only recognised Indian control in 1974, after
the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime, by a treaty signed on 31
December 1974.

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Remnants of St. Thomas Fort in Tangasseri, Kollam
Colonial India

Imperial entities of India

Dutch India 1605–1825

Danish India 1620–1869
French India 1668–1954

Portuguese India
(1505–1961)
Casa da Índia 1434–1833
Portuguese East India Company 1628–1633

British India
(1612–1947)
East India Company 1612–1757
Company rule in India 1757–1858
British Raj 1858–1947
British rule in Burma 1824–1948

7
 Princely states 1721–1949
Partition of India 1947


Vasco da Gama lands in India
The first Portuguese encounter with the subcontinent was on 20 May 1498 when Vasco da
Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar Coast. Anchored off the coast of Calicut, the Portuguese
invited native fishermen on board and immediately bought some Indian items. One Portuguese
accompanied the fishermen to the port and met with a Tunisian Muslim. On the advice of this
man, Gama sent a couple of his men to Ponnani to meet with ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin. Over
the objections of Arab merchants, Gama managed to secure a letter of concession for trading
rights from the Zamorin, Calicut's Brahman ruler. But, the Portuguese were unable to pay the
prescribed customs duties and price of his goods in gold.
Later Calicut officials temporarily detained Gama's Portuguese agents as security for payment.
This, however, annoyed Gama, who carried a few natives and sixteen fishermen with him by
force.
Nevertheless, Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in
cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.

Pedro Álvares Cabral

Pedro Álvares Cabral sailed to India, marking the arrival of Europeans to Brazil on the way, to
trade for pepper and other spices, negotiating and establishing a factory at Calicut, where he
arrived on 13 September 1500. Matters worsened when the Portuguese factory at Kozhikode was
attacked by surprise by the locals, resulting in the death of more than fifty Portuguese. [citation
needed]
Cabral was outraged by the attack on the factory and seized ten Arab merchant ships
anchored in the harbour, killing about six hundred of their crew and confiscating their cargo
before burning the ships. Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in
retaliation for the violation of the agreement. In Cochin and Cannanore Cabral succeeded in
making advantageous treaties with the local rulers. Cabral started the return voyage on 16
January 1501 and arrived in Portugal with only 4 of 13 ships on 23 June 1501.

The Portuguese built the Pulicat fort in 1502, with the help of the Vijayanagar rulerVasco da
Gama sailed to India for a second time with 15 ships and 800 men, arriving at Calicut on 30
October 1502, where the ruler was willing to sign a treaty. Gama this time made a call to expel
all Muslims (Arabs) from Calicut which was vehemently turned down. He bombarded the city
and captured several rice vessels. He returned to Portugal in September 1503.

Francisco de Almeida
The Seventh India Armada was assembled in 1505 on the order of King Manuel I of
Portugal and placed under the command of D. Francisco de Almeida, the first
Portuguese Viceroy of the Indies. The 7th Armada set out to secure the dominance of the
Portuguese navy over the Indian Ocean by establishing a series of coastal fortresses at critical
points – Sofala, Kilwa, Anjediva, Cannanore – and reducing cities perceived to be local threats
(Kilwa, Mombasa, Onor).

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Portuguese India Armadas

By 1504, the Portuguese crown had already sent six armadas to India. The expeditions had
opened hostilities with Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal entrepôt of
the Kerala pepper trade and dominant city-state on the Malabar coast of India. To counter the
power of the ruling Zamorin of Calicut, the Portuguese forged alliances and
established factories in three smaller rival coastal states, Cochin (Cochim,
Kochi), Cannanore (Canonor, Kannur) and Quilon (Coulão, Kollam).
When the Portuguese India Armadas were in India (August to January), the Portuguese position
in India was safe – the Calicut fleet was no match against the superior Portuguese naval and
cannon technology of the armada. But in the spring and summer months, when the armada was
absent, the Portuguese factories were very vulnerable. The armies of the Zamorin of Calicut had
nearly overrun Cochin twice in the intervening years. The Fifth Armada (1503) under Afonso de
Albuquerque had erected a small timber fortress, (Fort Sant'Iago, soon to be renamed Fort
Manuel), to protect the factory in Cochin. The Sixth Armada (1504), under Lopo Soares de
Albergaria had dropped off a larger Portuguese garrison and a small coastal patrol to harass
Calicut and protect the allied cities. But this was not nearly enough against a Zamorin that could
call on an army of tens of thousands. While the Zamorin's vast army had been humiliated at
the Battle of Cochin (1504), it was a close-run thing, and he might have better luck next time.

The Zamorin was quick to realize the urgency of rectifying the imbalance in naval and cannon
power. To this end, he called on his old partners in the spice trade. The Venetians had already
dispatched a couple of military engineers to help the Zamorin forge European cannon.
The Ottomans had dispatched some shipments of firearms. But the critical missing factor was a
fleet that could match the Portuguese at sea. This was something only the Mameluke sultanate of
Egypt could provide. The Mameluke sultan had several Red Sea ports available (notably, Jeddah,
recently expanded) where a fleet could be built. But, despite the entreaties of the Zamorin,
the Venetian Republic, the Sultan of Gujarat and the overseas Arab merchant community, the
Mameluke sultan had been slow to react to the Portuguese threat in the Indian Ocean. It was
really only in 1503 or 1504, when his own treasury officers reported that the disruptive
Portuguese activities were beginning to make a dent in the Mameluke treasury (dwindling
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revenues from customs dues on the spice trade and pilgrim traffic), that the Mameluke sultan was
finally roused to action. Secret preparations began for the construction of a coalition fleet in
the Red Sea ports, to drive the Portuguese out of the Indian Ocean.
In September/October 1504 (or perhaps 1503?), the Mameluke sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-
Ghawri of Egypt dispatched an embassy to Rome, angrily demanding that the pope reign in the
Portuguese, threatening to mete out the same treatment on Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land as
the Portuguese had been handing Muslim pilgrims to Mecca. The sultan's complaint was
forwarded to Lisbon by a worried Pope Julius II. But it only served to alert King Manuel I of
Portugal that the sleeping Mameluke giant had been awakened, that something large was afoot,
and that the Portuguese had better secure their position in the Indian Ocean before it was too late.
The Portuguese position was indeed precarious – not only in India, but also in East Africa. The
Portuguese had an old reliable ally in Malindi (Melinde), but the stages up to Malindi were weak.
The powerful city-state of Kilwa (Quíloa), which dominated the East African coast, was
inherently hostile to the Portuguese interlopers, but had thus far restrained her hand for fear of
reprisals. (Kilwa had been forced to pay tribute by Vasco da Gama in 1502). But should a serious
Muslim fleet challenge the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, Kilwa would likely take the
opportunity for action. As putative overlord of the Swahili Coast, Kilwa could probably close
down all the Portuguese staging points in East Africa, including the all-important Mozambique
Island (the critical stop after the Cape crossing) and the attractive port of Sofala (the entrepot of
the Monomatapa gold trade, which the Portuguese were trying to tap into). Mombasa (Mombaça)
would only be too happy to overrun its neighbor and rival Malindi, depriving the Portuguese of
their only ally in the region.
So the Almeida expedition of 1505, the 7th Armada to the Indies, had the double objective of
securing the Portuguese position in India against Calicut and in East Africa against Kilwa, before
the Egyptian-led coalition cobbled their naval strike force together.

Appointment of Almeida
The 7th Armada was to be an expedition like no other before: it was going to establish a
Portuguese government in the Indian Ocean, a Viceroy of the Indies
This had been a long-gestating and controversial idea in the Portuguese court. When King John
II of Portugal devised the plan of opening a sea-route to India, he thought primarily in terms of

10
personal enrichment. An ambitious and centralizing monarch, John II saw wealth as a means to
break the crown's dependence on the feudal nobility, and concentrate power in the king's hands.
The spice trade was merely a means to build up the royal treasury. John II's successor,
King Manuel I of Portugal, was a more traditional monarch, happy in the company of high
nobles, with a more Medieval outlook, including an eagerness to spread religion and pursue 'holy
war'.
For the first few years of Manuel's reign, the India armadas had been largely handled by the
'pragmatic' party inherited from John II. They saw the India run largely as he had – a commercial
venture – and tailored the missions accordingly. But the success of the early Portuguese armadas
had now attracted other parties. The 'Medievalists' in the Portuguese court, notably Duarte
Galvão, now wanted to give the India expeditions the glitter of a crusade, presenting it as the
opening of a 'new front' in a holy war on Islam, a resumption of the old reconquista. Galvão
openly romanticized about King Manuel personally conquering Jerusalem and even Mecca.
The old pragmatists naturally balked at the prospect of turning their lucrative cash-making
enterprise into a quixotic venture for holy glory. Court pragmatists like D. Diogo Lobo, Baron of
Alvito, the powerful vedor da fazenda, fought hard to keep the India armadas from being
diverted into messianic pursuits by Duarte Galvão's clique.
The decision to establish a Portuguese 'Vice-roy' of the Indies, to oversee all Portuguese
establishments in the Indian Ocean, had been conceived as early as 1503. It represented
something a victory for the Medievalists. In effect, it announced that the Portuguese would no
longer be content to merely trade for spices, that they were going to establish a Christian state in
the east, to spread religion, make alliances and launch a Holy War on the eastern flank of Islam.
In Manuel & Galvão's vision, it would be a two-pronged Christian offensive that would converge
on the Holy Land itself. The attack on the western flank was taken up by Manuel that very same
year, with the resumption of expeditions against Morocco (Agadir, Mogador, etc.).

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 The Death of Francisco de Almeida, 1510.

In 1510, when the Cape of Good Hope was still revered as the Portal to the Indies, the Viceroy of Portuguese India
was led ashore, attacked, slain and hurriedly buried in a shallow grave. The murder of Dom Francisco d’Almeida
and sixty men remains a mystery to this day.

‘The massacre of Viceroy Francisco d’Almeida, 1510′ by Angus McBride, 1984. Courtesy of the Castle Military
Museum.

Francisco de Almeida
The first designated vice-roy, the commander of the 7th armada, was decided around 1504 to
be Tristão da Cunha. A powerful high noble, courtier and royal counselor of Manuel I, Cunha
had sufficient pragmatic instincts to be acceptable to the older party (Cunha had participated in
outfitting ships in previous armadas). However, in early 1505, Tristão da Cunha was struck by an
affliction to his eyesight rendering him temporarily blind. As a result, the choice for his
replacement fell upon Dom Francisco de Almeida.
D. Francisco de Almeida was a younger son of the D. Lopo de Almeida, Count of Abrantes.
The Almeida family was one of the most powerful, resolute and vocal opponents of Manuel I of
Portugal in these years, and the primary supporters of Manuel's main rival, D. Jorge de
Lencastre. But Francisco had always been a bit of a black sheep in the Almeida family. In his

12
youth, he entered into at least two conspiracies against King John II of Portugal (to whom the
Almeidas were devoted), and was even exiled for a spell.
Francisco de Almeida's ambivalent loyalties might have been regarded by Manuel as a political
opportunity. If he cultivated the cadet, Manuel might yet lure the rest of the Almeida family over
to his side, or at least weaken their opposition. Francisco de Almeida, bubbling with ambition,
seemed prepared to do anything to receive the appointment. In January 1505, he scandalously
abandoned Lencastre's Order of Santiago to join Manuel's Order of Christ. He received his
appointment letter from Manuel I shortly after, on February 27, 1505.
Manuel I designated D. Francisco de Almeida as captain-major of the 7th Armada, with the
obligation to remain in India for three years. He would only be allowed to assume the title of
'Vice-Roy' upon the construction of four crown fortresses in India
at Anjediva, Cannanore, Cochin and Quilon.
In the prelude, Almeida outlined his plan to King Manuel I in modest terms, steering clear away
from Medievalist fantasies. Almeida's plan was to only open a few critical coastal and island
fortresses at strategic locations, just enough to allow the Portuguese navy to range over the
length and breadth of the Indian Ocean, rather than attempt ruinous large territorial conquests.
The king approved the plan and chose the locations of the fortresses himself. [5]
It is common to wonder why Vasco da Gama was overlooked for the position. Gama was
available and, by royal letter, he was entitled to a say in Indies matters, so why wasn't he chosen
for viceroy? In effect, he was just beaten to the prize. Like Almeida, Gama was connected to the
opposition party, Santiago, etc., but had been too slow to switch over to the king's party and did
not promise the king what he wanted to hear. Moreover, Almeida was of higher blood and
patronizing the mighty Almeidas promised bigger political returns for the king than the lowly
Gamas. More pertinently, Gama's judgment was also questioned in whispers through the court.
The 4th Armada that Vasco da Gama had commanded to India in 1502 had not been a success.
He had failed to bring the Zamorin to terms and, more egregiously, the coastal patrol he left
behind, under his uncle Vicente Sodré, had nearly cost the Portuguese their position in India.
While the fault should be properly assigned to the Sodré brothers for dereliction of duty, there
was a sense in the royal court that the patrol's failure was at least partly Gama's fault. He had
insisted on the appointment of the Sodrés, he was their familiar and their superior, and could not
have been wholly ignorant of their plans. Finally, Gama was a bit distracted – he was still trying
to secure his hold on the granted town of Sines, and pestering the king to no end about it, with
the result that Gama was not, at that moment, particularly welcome in Manuel's court.
FLEET
The Seventh Armada was the largest Portuguese armada yet sent to India — 21 ships (or 22,
if Bom Jesus is counted separately), carrying 1500 armed men with 1000 in crew and others.
(The following list should not be regarded as authoritative; it is a tentative list compiled from
various conflicting accounts.)
Abbakka I(1554-1584)
The valour of Abbakka II will be incomplete without a sketch of the contribution of Abbakka I.
Portuguese captured the Mangalore port in the year 1526. Thereafter, they made several attempts
to capture Ullal. Abbakka I, who was ruling from Ullal, repulsed every attack with sheer courage
and ingenuity. According to local tradition Abbakka even as a child, was extraordinary and

13
showed signs of being a visionary. There was no equal to her in military science and warfare,
mainly in archery and sword fighting.
She was married to a neighboring local king of Bangher. The marriage did not last long, with
Abbakka breaking ties by returning the jewels given by him to her. The husband thus disliked
Abbakka and wanted to take revenge. Later on he joined the Portuguese in a treaty to fight
Abbakka.

However, nothing stopped her from protecting her motherland and people from the vile clutches
of the Portuguese. Her first war against them was in the year 1556 because she refused payment
of any kind of tribute and selling of food stuffs at a rate agreeable to the Portuguese.
Under the leadership of Dom Alvaro De Silveria 21 fleets of naval ship entered Ullal and
attacked them ruthlessly. As a result, Mangalore fell prey to them. The king of Calicut Zamorin
intervened, mediated, and avoided further disaster. A new agreement was signed according to
which the Queen was to pay tributes.
Within two years of this battle, in 1558, the Queen had to face the wrath of the Portuguese for
giving shelter to the naval crafts of Malabar. This fight also ended with an agreement.
For the sake of her people the Queen of Ullal continued to pay tribute to the Portuguese. The
peace was short-lived as war between the two broke out in 1567 again. The main contention was
that the Queen had stopped paying tribute although the fall of Vijayanagara in the battle of
Talikota in 1565 could have emboldened the Portuguese. Moreover she had developed trade
contacts through Zamorin, with Persia, Arabiaand Red Sea region, by exporting rice, chilly,
clothes, cardamom etc. The Portuguese were upset that the Queen had not taken their permission
before making these exports.

A letter indicating all this reached the Queen; but she declined to respond. This resulted in a
furious battle between the two which caused much loss of men and materials for the duo.
Despite the fact that she did not win the battle, her gallantry fight was praised by the
contemporary Portuguese writers like Francisco D’souza, Couto Diogo, and Santos. According
to them, she was a brave, heroic, fearless and undaunted queen of her time who went to war with
the Portuguese thrice.
Though she lost the battle, she sent a strong message to the Portuguese and the world around that
foreign invasions and levying of tributes would no longer be tolerated.
It was the spirit and actions of Abbakka I that inspired her daughter Abbakka II to defeat the
Portuguese ruthlessly during her time.

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Abbakka II (1595-1640)
Rani Abbakka II, the prominent Queen of the Tuluva history, was married to Lakshmappa
Bangarasa, a Bangha ruler, who was ruling from Mangalore. Since she had a strained
relationship with her husband, the reason being he was supporting Portuguese, the annoyed
queen returned her jewelleries given to her in marriage, returns home and assumes her mother’s
throne in Ullal.
Like her mother Abbakka II was a very brave and able queen. The reference about Abbakka II is
found in a Portuguese record of 1595. As soon as she assumed the throne in 1595 she stopped
paying tributes to the Portuguese and built a strong fort at Ullal. Her army was ever vigilant at
the fort. All this annoyed the Portuguese.
During this period she extended her trade relationship with the Far East including
Maldives. Abbakka II also maintained cordial relations with the King Zamorin of Calicut. All her
sea route trading activities to Middle East countries were thus jointly undertaken. She could
export rice, cotton, coconut, sugarcane in her own ships and did not bother about opposition from
the Portuguese. They somehow wanted to destroy her fort. According to a Portuguese record
they were successful in destroying this fort in 1597.
Unlike her mother Abbakka I who was defeated by the Portuguese, Abbakka II defeated them in
the year 1618.
To achieve her objective she took the help of Keladi Venkatappa Nayak. Many Portuguese naval
chiefs, including Britto Miranda, and two hundred soldiers died. Around thirty of them fled away
from the war fleet. During the war she effectively used indigenous weapons described as ‘fire
arrows’ by the Portuguese.

What on earth are Fire Arrows?

Fire Arrows - Torch made of dry coconut leaves popularly known as ‘thoote’ in Tulu language
(In Lexicon by Mariyappa Bhatta). ‘Thoote’ was used by Tuluvas in the age old days as torch
during night travel.
Under the queen’s adroit guidance, her soldiers used the thoote as a striking war strategy.
Hundreds of these thoote, blazing with fire, were swung like arrows towards the enemy ships

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that were anchored near the coast. When the ships caught fire many lost their lives. Rest of the
soldiers would jump into the sea to save themselves only to be killed by Abbakka’s soldiers who
fought with sword and spears.

Fire arrows were one of the earliest forms of weaponized gunpowder, being used from the 9th
century onward. Not to be confused with earlier incendiary arrow projectiles, the fire arrow was a
gunpowder weapon which receives its name from the translated Chinese term huǒjiàn (火箭), which
literally means fire arrow. In China a 'fire arrow' referred to a gunpowder projectile consisting of a
bag of incendiary gunpowder attached to the shaft of an arrow. Fire arrows are the predecessors
of fire lances, the first firearm.
Later rockets utilizing gunpowder were used to provide arrows with propulsive force and the
term fire arrow became synonymous with rockets in the Chinese language. In other languages such
as Sanskrit 'fire arrow' (agni astra) underwent a different semantic shift and became synonymous
with 'cannon'.
Portuguese accepted defeat
The Portuguese troops succumbed to the war tactics of the queen. For the first time in history the
mighty Portuguese had to accept defeat against a Queen of a small kingdom.
(These thoote’s were wrongly referred as ‘fire arrows’ by Portuguese). And so the Queen of a
small Coastal town of Ullal defeated the well-equipped Portuguese flotilla.
The news of the Portuguese loss to a Woman made international news across Arabia, Persia and
Europe. This has been considered as an epoch making event in contemporary history. Thereafter,
the Portuguese never attempted to attack Ullal or come in the way of her trading activities.
On learning about heroism of this Queen, Persian Traveller Pietro dellaVelle visited her Court in
1623. His travelogue provides useful account of her personality and concern for her people.
She was a gentle lady of high dignity, dressed in simple clothes, yet had an alluring figure.
Though her exterior posterity and habit represented rather a dirty Kitchen wench, or Laundress,
than a delicate and noble Queen; her graceful voice and her prudent and judicious speech
bespoke her nobility says Pietro dala Velle. Another mine of information can be got from the
records of Portuguese historian Antonio Bocaro.

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.Rani Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the
latter half of the 16th century. She belonged to the Chowta dynasty who ruled over parts of
coastal Karnataka (Tulu Nadu), India. Their capital was Puttige.The port town of Ullal served as
their subsidiary capital. The Portuguese made several attempts to capture Ullal as it was
strategically placed. But Abbakka repulsed each of their attacks for over four decades. For her
bravery, she came to be known as Abhaya Rani (The fearless queen). She was also one of the
earliest Indians to fight colonialism and is sometimes regarded as the 'first woman freedom
fighter of India'. In the state of Karnataka, she is celebrated along with Rani Kittur
Chennamma, Keladi Chennamma, Queen Chennabhairadevi and Onake Obavva, as the foremost
women warriors and patriots.

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The Chowtas followed the system of matrilineal inheritance (Aliyasantana) of Digambara Jain
Bunt community by which Tirumala Raya, Abbakka's uncle, crowned her the queen of Ullal. He
also forged a matrimonial alliance for Abbakka with Lakshmappa Arasa Bangaraja II, king
of Banga principality in Mangalore. This alliance was to later prove a source of worry for the
Portuguese. Tirumala Raya also trained Abbakka in the different aspects of warfare and military
strategy. The marriage, however, was short-lived and Abbakka returned to Ullal. Her husband
thus longed for revenge against Abbakka and was to later join the Portuguese in their fight
against Abbakka.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: After overrunning Goa and taking control of it, the
Portuguese turned their attention southwards and along the coast. They first attacked the South
Kanara coast in 1525 and destroyed the Mangalore port. Ullal was a prosperous port and a hub of
the spice trade to Arabia and other countries in the west. Being the profitable trading center that
it was, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British vied with one another for control of the region
as well as the trade routes. They, however, had not been able to make much headway as the
resistance from the local chieftains was very strong. The local rulers even forged alliances
cutting across caste and religious lines.

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Abbakka's administration was well represented by Jains, Hindus as well as Muslims. Historical
research also reveals that during her rule in the 16th century, Beary men had served as seamen in
the naval force. Rani Abbakka had personally supervised the construction of dam at Malali; she
had appointed Bearys for boulder work. Her army too consisted of people of all sects and castes.
She even forged alliances with the Zamorin of Calicut. Together, they kept the Portuguese at
bay. The marital ties with the neighbouring Banga dynasty added further strength to the alliance
of the local rulers. She also gained support from powerful king Venkatappanayaka of Bidnur and
ignored the threat of Portuguese forces.

Wars against Portugese: The Portuguese, clearly upset by Abbakka's tactics, demanded that she
pay them tribute but Abbakka refused to yield. In 1555, the Portuguese sent Admiral Dom
Álvaro da Silveira to fight her after she refused to pay them tribute. In the battle that followed,
Rani Abbakka once again managed to hold her own and repulsed the attack successfully.
In 1557, the Portuguese plundered Mangalore and laid waste to it. In 1568, they turned their
attention to Ullal but Abbakka Rani resisted them yet again. João Peixoto, a Portuguese general
and a fleet of soldiers were sent by the Portuguese Viceroy António Noronha. They managed to
capture the city of Ullal and also entered the royal court. Abbakka Rani, however, escaped and
took refuge in a mosque. The same night, she gathered around 200 of her soldiers and mounted
an attack on the Portuguese. In the battle that ensued, General Peixoto was killed, [11] seventy
Portuguese soldiers were taken prisoners and many of the Portuguese retreated. In further
attacks, Abbakka Rani and her supporters killed Admiral Mascarenhas and the Portuguese were
also forced to vacate the Mangalore fort.

The Portuguese not only regained the Mangalore fort but also captured Kundapur (Basrur).
Despite these gains, Abbakka Rani continued to remain a source of threat. With the help of the
queen's estranged husband, they mounted attacks on Ullal. Furious battles followed but Abbakka
Rani held her own. In 1570, she formed an alliance with the Bijapur Sultan of Ahmed Nagar and
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the Zamorine of Calicut, who were also opposing the Portuguese. Kutty Pokar Markar, the
Zamorine's general fought on behalf of Abbakka and destroyed the Portuguese fort at Mangalore
but while returning he was killed by the Portuguese. Following these losses and her husband's
treachery, Abbakka lost the war, was arrested and jailed. However, even in prison she revolted
and died fighting.

According to traditional accounts, she was an immensely popular queen and this is also
attested by the fact that she is even today a part of folklore. The queen's story has been retold
from generation to generation through folk songs and Yakshagana, a popular folk theatre
in Coastal Karnataka. In Daiva Kola, a local ritual dance, the persona in trance recounts the great
deeds of Abbakka Mahadevi. Abbakka is portrayed as dark and good looking, always dressed in
simple clothes like a commoner. She is portrayed as a caring queen who worked late into the
night dispensing justice. Legends also claim that Abbakka was the last known person to have
used the Agnivana (fire-arrow) in her fight against the Portuguese. Some accounts also claim that
she had two equally valiant daughters who fought alongside her in her wars against the
Portuguese.

Abbakka's memory is much cherished in her home town of Ullal. The "Veera Rani Abbakka
Utsava" is an annual celebration held in her memory. The Veera Rani Abbakka Prashasti award
is given to distinguished women on the occasion. On 15 January 2003, the Indian postal
department issued a special cover on Rani Abbakka. There have been calls to name
the Bajpe airport. A bronze statue of the queen has been erected in Ullal and another
in Bangalore. Amar Chitra Katha published a book named 'Rani Abbakka- The Queen who knew
no fear'.The Karnataka Itihasa Academy has called for renaming the Queen's road in the state
capital as 'Rani Abbakka Devi road'

Recognition for Rani Abbakka

There is great demand from the public for recognizing Abbakka II, a woman of indomitable
spirit. The government could name Mangalore Airport or Konkan Railway train after her.
Very little has been done to recognize this naval hero! However, the Indian Navy acknowledged
her achievements by naming a patrol vessel after her in 2012.
There is an Abbakka Circle in Ullal and Abbakkas statue is installed there. The Abbakka Ustava
Samiti was formulated in 1997 under the aegis of Government of Karnataka. In Bengaluru there
is an Abbakka statue at Yeshawanthpura.

With effect from May 1 2019, a Women’s Police troupe has been named Abbakka Pade. Its aim
is to prevent harassment of women at public places in and around Mangalore.
The Rani Abbakka Tulu Adhyayana Kendra (founded in 1995) has recognized this valiant Queen
of Coastal Karnataka by naming the institution after her. They also have a Rani Abbakka Art
Gallery that exhibits various stages of the Queen’s life on canvas, painted through the brush
strokes of renowned artists from all over India.

Prof. Thukaram Poojary, the founder of Rani Abbakka Tulu Museum, has taken upon himself the
task of documenting the narrative of Queen Abbakka so that her name lives on, undeterred by the
sands of time.

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Another challenging but achievable idea is to compile the paintings into a booklet so that the
world gets to know about her. This is one more effort to ensure the name of this profound Queen
is not lost amidst the other magnified freedom fighters. The queen’s story is retold from
generation to generation through folk songs and yakshagana, the popular folk theatre.
In bootaradhana (which literally means appeasing the possessed, a local ritual dance) the person
in trance narrates the great deeds of Abbakka Mahadevi.Though Abbakka has been admired and
worshipped in local folk forms, it is only recently that there have been efforts to honor her
memory.

In the history of Tulunadu these two Queens played a pivotal role. They were undeterred in
maintaining self-respect of their country and countrymen. It was these two Abbakkas who tried
to put an end to the political ambitions of Portuguese who tried to fulfil them in the guise of
commercial activity. Abbakka II was successful in stopping the Portuguese.
Actually Abbakka I and II lit the flame of India’s freedom movement during the 16 th century
itself. It is time they get due share in the history of freedom movement of the country. The
available inscriptions, travelogues, Portuguese records should prove the historic role of these
forgotten Queens of the Coastal belt.

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The only woman in history to confront, fight and repeatedly defeat the Portuguese, Rani
Abbakka’s unflagging courage and indomitable spirit are at par with the legendary Rani
Laxmi Bai of Jhansi and Rani Chennamma of Kittur.

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