Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil

Palayakarrar Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, (as the British referred to them) in Tamil Nadu refers to the holder of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, ''palayam'' was given for valuable military services rendered by any in ...

and king of

Panchalankurichi Panchalankurichi is a village, 3 km from Ottapidaram and 21 km from Thoothukudi in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, India. Panchalankurichi was once a Palayam and is best known as the birthplace of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, an 18th- ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and waged a

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against them. He was captured by the British with the help of the ruler of the kingdom of Pudukottai,

Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman Raja Sri Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman Bahadur (c May 1759 – 1 February 1807) was the ruler of the pudukottai kingdom from 30 December 1789 to 1 February 1807. Early life Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman was born in May 1759 to Thirumalai Raya To ...

, and at the age of 39 he was hanged at

Kayathar Kayathar / Kayatharu is a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Etymology Kayathar / Kayatharu means "bitter river", from ''Aaru'' (Tamil for river) and ''kayarpu/kasappu'' (Tamil for bitter). This name m ...

on 16 October 1799.

Early life

He was a

Vatuka The 'Vaduga' or 'Vadugar', comprise three distinct Telugu-speaking caste-based communities of what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India. They are families who moved south to the region from north Madras presidency following the collapse of th ...

(northerner), a loose term for a group of

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-speaking

castes Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

which includes families who claim to have moved south to settle in the arid

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

region after the collapse of the Nayaka-controlled

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

in 1565. They had previously had some prominence in the imperial court and may have been adept at farming in dry conditions, although it is also possible that they had no choice but to settle where they did because the other significant community of Tirunelveli – the

Maravar Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy. Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title '' Thevar''. T ...

s – had already occupied the more favourable areas. Kattabomman was a member of the

Rajakambalam Nayakkar The Golla, also spelt as Goalas are a Telugu-speaking pastoral community primarily living in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with smaller numbers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This caste is called by separate names in different re ...

caste who are shepherds, with the other two Vadugan communities being the Kammavars and the Reddies.

Legacy

The historian

Susan Bayly Susan Bayly is a Professor Emerita of Historical Anthropology in the Cambridge University Division of Social Anthropology and a Life Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. She is a former editor of the ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Insti ...

says that Kattabomman is considered a

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

-like figure in local folklore and is the subject of several traditional narrative ballads in the

kummi Kummi is a folk dance, popular in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India, danced mostly by Tamil women in circle. Dancing may be different. In some places, it is very simple, with rhythmic clapping or beating of the drums. In other places dancers imi ...

verse form. The site of his execution at Kayathar has become a "powerful local shrine" and at one time sheep were sacrificed there. The

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

maintains a memorial at Kayathar and the remnants of the old fort at Panchalankurichi is protected by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...

. In 2006, the Tirunelveli district administration organised a festival at Panchalankurichi on his birth anniversary. The

Tamil-language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...

film ''

Veerapandiya Kattabomman Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and king of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the Briti ...

'', starring

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

, is based on his life. To commemorate the bicentenary of Kattabomman's hanging, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

released a

postal stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

in his honour on 16 October 1999. The

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

communications centre at Vijayanarayanam is named '' INS Kattabomman''.

Early life

Legacy

See also