The first Indian monarch to defy the Portuguese
Rani Abbakka Chowta, The Queen of Ullal
[ image from Amar Chitra Katha]
No not the first queen, but the first monarch.
You must know that before the British entered India, we previously had the Dutch , French and Portuguese try to invade different kingdoms of our country.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama pulled up at the Malabar Coast, specifically Calicut ( present day Kozhikode, Kerala). He arrived here through the Cape route, that is basically rounding South Africa (specifically cape of good hope in South Africa) .
He did not face any restrictions from the then Kozhikode Zamorin (or ruler) for trade.
Now cape route includes the Arabian Sea as well. The Arabs were trading with the Zamorin since loooong ago. Hence the Zamorin def gave them more preference. This is just for context, just so yk they also existed.
Vasco da Gama went back after three months with all the goods from India and when he sold them in Europe he made 60 times the cost of his entire voyage. So yeah that’s kinda crazy. This is how the Portuguese found out that hmmmmm we should also go . But it was decided by their ruler that private trading cannot happen, trade missions should be strictly government controlled only.
Two years later, a larger fleet was sent to Kozhikode and the Portuguese established a port. Arabs no likey. Dishoom dishoom happen. Destroy each others goods etc.
The Zamorin no likey violence. But as I mentioned before, the Arabs had been trading w them since loooong ago now some random white peoples are here. So he was kinda partial. To the Arabs.
Portuguese get mad by this and they take up arms against the Zamorin himself. But it didn’t workout cuz the Arabs were with the Zamorin. Next year de Gama came again with navy and all. Destroyed every Arab ship he saw on the way, told the Zamorin to take out all the Muslims in the area (Zamorin is Hindu btw) and Zamorin is like oh hell na so then again dishoom dishoom happen and Portuguese forcefully built factories and fortified them. Now shits getting serious.
I have to do little time skip to get to Abbakka. All this context was necessary btw, to understand how the Portuguese ended up here. See now because she’s an underrated baddie there is very lil info abt when she was born, reigned etc. mid 1500s is our best guess. She was the queen of Ullal, which is also a part of Malabar coast , present day coastal Karnataka.
Abbakka was born to the Chowta dynasty, which followed the matrilineal system. She was a baddie trained in military warfare and statecraft. Her predecessor was her mother Hiriya Abbakka. Under Hiriya Abbakka’s rule, when Ullal tried to retaliate against the Portuguese, it didn’t bear fruit and they had to end up paying annual tribute/taxes to them. And they were not allowed to trade w any foreign country other than Portugal.
Abbakka wanted to avenge her mother’s humiliation. Yet her husband, the ruler of a nearby province was not at all supportive, cuz he lowkey a coward who wanted to be on the good side of the Portuguese. From whatever lil info we have, the couple did NOT fuck w each other and when she found out he’s been making frandship w the Portuguese, she broke ties w him, returning him the jewels he had given her [ ancient royal form of divorce ig idk] so this was obviously a big insult to him.
Her army consisted of men and women of different sects and she also had the support of the Arab traders, whose ships were once defended by Abbakka’s troops [ when the Portuguese had attacked them] .
in 1525 , the Portuguese attacked the Mangalore port. When Abbakka refused to pay the annual taxes that were "long overdue", the Portuguese were triggered cuz uhhh wdym a woman just told that to the Portuguese administrator yo that’s crazy [ alag baat hai that woman is the queen] and so they attacked the Arab ships which had goods in them which were supposed to be traded. Abbakka’s soldiers who were on those ships helped them fight back against the Portuguese.
Abbakka played a major role in resisting the Portugal forces from having monopoly over the coastal regions. Her navy and local allies used the knowledge of the coasts to their benefits. The Portuguese once reportedly attacked Ullal, as a form of revenge, expecting an easy victory by lighting parts of the kingdom on fire. But the queen had a counterattack ready by that night, which ended up causing immense damage to the Portuguese troops.
Rani Abbakka Chowta is said to have been the first female freedom fighter of India and even today is remembered as a symbol of courage and resilience.
[ Rani Abbakka’s bronze statue in present day Ullal at Veera Rani Abbakka Circle ]
[ stamp released by the government of India in honour of the queen]
