Rani Velu Nachiyar

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Happy birthday to Rani Velu Nachiyar!  


Rani Velu Nachiyar (1730 – 1796), known in Tamil as Veeramangai (“brave woman”), was the first Indian queen to wage war with the British East India Company.  

Velu Nachiyar was born on January 3, 1730, in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. She was the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy of the Ramnad kingdom and his wife, Rani Sakandhimuthal. Lacking a male heir, the royal couple raised Velu as a prince, training her in traditional martial arts, archery, and horse-riding. She was also a learned student and could fluently speak several languages including Urdu, French, and English.  

At the tender age of 16, she was married to Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar, son of the King of Sivagangai, the first independent state from Ramnad. Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar became the King of Sivagangai in 1750 and became its longest reigning monarch (over twenty years) until his death in 1772. Together, he and Nachiyar had one daughter made called Vellachi. 

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In 1772, Sivagangai was invaded by the troops of the East India Company who had colluded with the son of the Nawab of Arcot. King Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar was killed in the subsequent battle (the Kalaiyar Koil war). Even women and children were not spared, and this became one of the bloodiest battles of the colonial era. However, some of the most prominent figures in the kingdom escaped, including Nachiyar and her daughter who fled and sought refuge in Virupachi near Dindigul, where they stayed for 8 years under the protection of Palayakaarar Kopaala Naayakkar. 

While in hiding, Nachiyar slowly built her own powerful army, earning important support from Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali, the Sultan and the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Sultan Hyder Ali I was extremely impressed with her determination and bravery, as well as her ability to converse with him in Urdu. The Sultan gave his word to support the queen in her crusade to retrieve her kingdom. He also gave her the use of a royal fort where she was treated as a Queen, and a monthly stipend of 400 pounds of gold. The Sultan’s troops added 5000 infantary and 5000 cavalry to fight the British, as well as providing her with weapons. She manage dto plan all of this without coming to the attention of the British by constantly changing her base to confuse British spies.  

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In 1780, she came face-to-face with the British, and  officially became the first Queen to fight for freedom against the British. When she discovered the Brits’ ammunition store, she decided that a suicide bomber was the best way to destroy it. An army commander and a loyal follower of the queen, Kuyili, came forward to carry out the mission. Kuyili  (who probably deserves a post of her own!) drenched herself with ghee and then set herself on fire before jumping into armoury and blowing it up, thereby procuring a victory for the queen. Kuyili, who many consider as an adoptive daughter of Nachiyar, is regarded as the first female suicide bomber. 


Nachiyar also had an adopted daughter, Udaiyaal, who gave her life fighting the British. In her honour, the queen built up a woman’s army and named it ‘udaiyaal’ after her adopted daughter. After recapturing the Sivaganga estate, Nachiyar ruled the kingdom for the next decade, naming her daughter, Vellacci, heir to the throne. After her victory, Nachiyar expressed her deep gratitude for the support given by Sultan Hyder Ali by constructing a Mosque and Church at Saragani, in response to his having built a temple inside his palace for her. Nachiyar also maintained good relation with the notorious freedom fighter Tipu Sultan, the son of Hyder Ali, whom she considered a brother.  


Nachiyar died aged 66 on Christmas Day 1796, having suffered from heart ailments in the last few years of her life.  


Today, Rani Velu Nachiyar has rightly become a folk hero in India, a symbol of (successful) resistance against the British. That she was a queen, and that her victory would not have been possible without the backing of the powerful women who helped make up her army, makes her even more special, and a powerful reminder that women have never just been passive victims of war and colonialism, but played a crucial role in leading and resisting them too.  

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