A peep into history

Changu and Mangu were playing outside their house when their ball fell into their next door Tamil neighbour's house. They quietly entered the house to recover their ball which had rolled into one of the rooms as the door was open. 

As they quietly peeped in to recover the ball they saw a portrait on the wall of a queen with her sword brandished. Ah that's Rani Lakshmi Bai said Changu to Mangu, I have read this in school.

No my boy, that's not her a soft voice behind spoke. Changu Mangu started trembling thinking they will now get a thrashing but instead the old man said, "Do you want to know her story?"

Both the boys were excited and asked the old man about the picture on the wall. "Story...but whose picture is that, grandpa?" 

The old man replied, "That's Rani Velu Nachiyar of Tamil Nadu, who fought and defeated the British. Have you studied about her in school?"

"No, we havent," replied Changu.

"We thought it is the picture of Jhansi Rani," said Mangu. 

"Can you please tell us more about her?" asked Changu and Mangu.

The old man began the story of Rani Velu Nachiyar (1730 -1796) the queen of Sivaganga who defeated the British in 1780, 77 years before the First War of Independence. He said she is also known as "Veeramangai" which means brave woman in tamil. Rani was born in 1730 as the only child to the king and was well trained in martial arts, horse-riding, archery etc. She was also learned and was fluent in languages such as Tamil, English, French, and Urdu. At the age of 16 she was married to Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar, the prince of Sivaganga and had a daughter Vellachi but the prince was

killed by the British and the Arcot Nawab's son in the Kalaiyar Koil War.

The queen escaped to Dindigul with her daughter and aligned with Haider Ali who provided her weapons and safety. He was also impressed with her bravery and Urdu skills.

She realigned and built her army and in 1780 she attacked the British in a brilliantly formulated military strategy that combined Her ground Intel and focused attack on british ammunition by means of a suicide attack. While the queen led the attack with her army on the British, her commander in chief Kuyili doused herself in ghee and attacked the ammunition dump while Udaiyaal her adopted daughter blew herself up in another ammunition dump leaving the British ammunition less. These are the first recorded instances in history of suicide bombers.

The fierce battle that followed saw the British getting badly defeated. Rani Velu Nachiyar then took back her kingdom and reigned for over a decade after which her daughter Vellachi took over ruled till 1793. Rani maintained friendly relations with Tipu Sultan and considered him like a brother.

The Goverment in 2008 released a stamp in remembrance of this great warrior queen.

The old man then pointed to the wall and said, "that's her story my boys."

    Both Changu and Mangu looked at the picture with pride gave a salute and then walked back to their home with the ball after thanking the old man for his story.