Why in the news?

• Birth anniversary of Rani chennamma was celebrated on 23d October.

Kittur Rani Channamma (1778 – 1829)

• Birth: Belagavi district of Karnataka.
• Marriage: She became queen of Kitturu (now in Karnataka) when she married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family.
• Way to Conflict
  • After Mallasarja died in 1816, his eldest son, Shivalingarudra Sarja, ascended the throne.
  • Before he died in 1824, Shivalingarudra adopted a child, Shivalingappa, as the successor.
  • However, the British East India Company refused to recognise Shivalingappa as the kingdom’s successor under the ‘doctrine of lapse’.
• Kittur Rebellion (1824)
  • John Thackery, the British official at Dharwad, launched an attack on Kittur in October 1824.
  • In this first battle British forces lost heavily and the Kitturu forces killed the Collector and political agent, St. John Thackeray. 
  • Two British officers, Sir Walter Elliot and Mr. Stevenson, were also taken as hostages. 
  • However, the British army again attacked the Kittur Fort and captured it.
  • Rani Chennamma and her family were imprisoned and jailed at the fort in Bailhongal, where she died in 182