Veeramangai (Brave woman)

O Queen you are so brave!

when your husband died in the war,

with East India company,

You did not fear, but fought with more determination and courage!

And ultimately were successful in freeing,

Your country!

You ruled it for more than ten years,

In full conviction and capability.

And then made your daughter its next queen!

O Queen you are so brave!

You are Veeramangai!

Rani Velu Nachiyar was born on 3 rd of January in the year 1730 .She was a queen of Sivaganga estate from year 1780 to 1790. She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.She is known by Tamils as Veeramangai (brave woman).

Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram .She was the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthathal of the Ramnad kingdom.

She was trained in warfare and use of weapons , martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding and archery. She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English and Urdu. She married the king of Sivagangai, and had a daughter. 

Her husband, MuthuvaduganathaperiyaUdaiya Thevar, was killed in a battle with East India Company soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot. She was drawn into the conflict. She managed to escape the battlefield with her daughter.

During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Hyder Ali with the aim of launching a campaign against the East India Company in 1780. When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the EIC stored their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack on the location, and blew it up.Her woman commander named Kuyili lit herself in the ammunition store of the EIC and destroyed it .It was on the Vijayadashami in 1780.The entire area burst into flames and Kuyili was martyred in the attack.

EIC had used part of Raja Rajeswari temple in Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu as a warehouse and had stored guns and ammunition in it.

 Kuyili, the woman commander of Udayal Padai wing of Rani Velu Nacchiyar, rushed towards the deity where a large ghee oil lamp was burning. Two British sepoys shot at her. 

 Though wounded Kuyili managed to empty the pot of ghee oil over herself. And holding the ghee oil lamp, she rushed towards the warehouse and lit herself. The warehouse exploded in flames ,destroying the arms and ammunitions of the British, but the brave commander Kuyili also died in this attack.

 Huge ammunition of British was destroyed ,which thereby helped Rani Velu Nachiyar to defeat the British easily.

Rani Velu Nachiyar reinherited the kingdom of her husband, and ruled it for ten more years. In 1790, the throne was inherited by her daughter Vellacci.She granted all powers to her daughter with the Marudu brothers to help with the administration of the kingdom. She died a few years later, on 25 December 1796.

On 31 December 2008, a commemorative postage stamp was released in the name of Rani Velu Nachiyar.OVM Dance Academy of Chennai presented "VELU NACHIYAR" a Grand Dance Ballet on the life of the Sivaganga Queen.

Professor A.L.I., a Tamil-American hip-hop artist, released a song dedicated to Rani Velu Nachiyar entitled "Our Queen" as part of his Tamilmatic album in 2016.

On 21 August 2017, a grand dance ballet was conducted in Naradha Gana Sabha in Chennai depicting the life history of the queen Velu Nachiyar. The play was directed by Sriram Sharma, who researched on the Queen's life history for almost a decade.

Rani Velu Nachiyar had fought with the British for the independence of her country.She was a brave woman who did not get discouraged even upon the death of her husband and ultimately was successful in releasing her kingdom from the clutches of the Britishers.She was a Veeramangai, a brave woman of India!