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In the sixteenth century, entering Goa as traders, the
Portuguese quickly overpowered the trusting king of the ancient
Alupa dynasty. Soon, they coveted the strategically located
Ullal. Due to the large spices trade with Arabia, Ullal was a
prosperous port. The Dutch, Portuguese, and the British later
coveted the trade. The Portuguese considered Ullal a natural
extension to their base in Goa.
During that time, a queen called Abbakka ruled from Moodabidri
and used the Ullal as her financial capital. Born in the
matrilineal line of Chowtas, Abbakka was brilliant queen who
excelled in governance, administration, warfare, and above all
patriotism. Tutored by her uncle Tirumala Raya, Abbakka became a
fearless wielder of the sword, spear, and bow. She also mastered
diplomacy and war strategy and tactics. She developed a strong
land and naval force and kept the colonizing Portuguese at bay
for over four decades.
When she attained a marriageable age, her uncle wanted her to
choose a spouse who could share her dreams and kingdom. The
young queen listed several requirements that she seeks in her
husband; wide-ranging education, courage under duress, valor in
battle, and patriotism. Her uncle proposed the king of the
neighboring city of Mangalore as a suitable groom. By creating
this alliance through marriage, Tirumala Raya sought to create a
formidable boundary to dissuade the Portuguese from trying to
conquer the entire Tulu belt. Moreover, Lakshmanappa was a
dashing young king showing a lot of promise.
The marriage alliance between Ullal and Mangalore alarmed the
Portuguese because a united front would definitely stall their
southern progress. The Portuguese Viceroy in Goa, António
Noronha used guile and subversion to co-opt Lakshmanappa. By
tempting him with an alliance, he wooed the young king with
ideas of conquering the rest of Bharatha Desam. He promised to
make Lakshmanappa the emperor of this new kingdom. Taken in by
the promise of conquest, splendor, fame, and prosperity,
Lakshmanappa succumbed to the evil designs of the Portuguese. |
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By sheer chance, Abbakka stumbled on this plot and confronts her
husband. She demanded his patriotism. Drunk with the support of a
foreign ally, Lakshmanappa ill-treated his queen and rebuked her.
As an educated woman, Abbakka found her husband’s behavior
reprehensible. Taking her twin daughters with her, she left her
husband and returned to rule from Moodabidri and Ullal. As soon as
she returned to her ancestral home, Abbakka started building a navy
and an army.
In the meanwhile, taking advantage of the marital chaos, the
Portuguese Viceroy sent Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira to plunder
Mangalore. Lakshmanappa’s supposed-friend, General João Peixoto,
justified the action of his country. He demanded that Lakshmanappa
assist them take over Ullal. Angered by his wife’s abandonment of
their marriage, Lakshmanappa schemes to overrun Moodabidri and Ullal.
Bolstered by the alliance with an insider, da Silveria threatened to
attack Ullal with a large armada. They demanded a tribute from the
queen to spare the port town. Abbakka refused and attacked the
armada with her incipient navy. Although she had far fewer and
smaller ships, her leadership inspired her sailors to fight bravely
and destroy the Portuguese armada.
While she was fighting da Silveria at sea, claiming the right of a
husband, Lakshmanappa gained entry into Moodabidri. At night,
believing his wife to be still at sea, he killed the fort guardian
and opens the gates for Peixoto and his men to enter the city walls
and took over the kingdom. Meanwhile, a fleet of riverboats lead by
Admiral Mascarenhas also arrived at Ullal.
After finding out the treachery of her estranged husband, Abbakka
sought refuge in a mosque. While Abbakka was a follower of the Jain
faith, she ran a secular government with good relations with Hindus
and Muslims. She collected a small band of two hundred faithful
soldiers and attacked the palace. They killed Peixoto and
Mascarenhas and took several Portuguese soldiers prisoners. Alarmed
at the sudden turn of events, the Portuguese soldiers fled with
Lakshmanappa at their head. Impressed by the bravery of the queen,
the soldiers loyal to Lakshmanappa defected and pledged loyalty to
the queen.
Not stopping with her initial success, the queen chased the
Portuguese soldiers and took back the Mangalore fort. She also
recaptured the strategic town of Basrur also called Kundapur. She
forged alliances with the Sultan of Bijapur and the Zamoarin of
Kozhikode to present a unified opposition to the Portuguese. The
general of the Zamoarin, Kutty Pokar Markar, led several campaigns
into the Portuguese-held territory boxing them into a tiny corner in
Goa.
Disappointed with the turn of events, Lakshmanappa blamed his wife
for his plight. Plotting to over throw her reign in the region, he
appeared before Markar as Abbakka’s husband and feigned a change of
heart. Later at night, he assassinated Markar and sets fire to the
barracks killing several soldiers. As per a former agreement, the
Portuguese see the burning barrack and attacked the soldiers of the
confederacy. After overrunning the main army, they also captured
Moodabidri and Ullal. They imprisoned the queen and her daughters
and promised to heap suffering on them.
At night, Lakshmanappa visited the captives in the prison and
taunted his wife. He demanded her obedience. Abbakka feigned
confusion and requested him time to think things over. Later that
night, the queen and her daughters rouse up the feelings of freedom
in the souls of other prisoners. They organized an attack to either
gain freedom or die with honor. Armed with whatever they could find,
the inmates led by the queen attacked the guards. Alarmed at this
uprising, the guards shot all of them dead. |
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