Amara Sullia uprising gets due recognition on its 185th anniversary

Bronze statue of Kedambadi Ramaiah Gowda proposed

The ‘Amara Sullia’ rebellion of 1837, India’s first-ever freedom struggle against the British’s East India Company, had inspired two doctoral research works and more than a dozen books.

A befitting memorial to immortalise the Amara Sullia uprising in Dakshina Kannada district which had remained elusive became a reality on Tuesday, with former Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda performing Bhoomi puja near the entrance of Tagore Park, the proposed site for installing a bronze statue of Kedambadi Ramaiah Gowda, who had led the Amara Sullia uprising.

Ramaiah Gowda, opposing payment of tax in cash to the British, had set out from Ubaradka Mithoor in Sullia taluk on March 30, 1837. En route, he had motivated many rulers to join his rebellion against the British.

Ramaiah Gowda’s army succeeded in defeating the British army and had lowered the British flag before hoisting the Kodagu Haleri dynasty’s flag in Bavutagudda on April 5, 1837.

After the 13th day of hoisting the flag, the rebellion was crushed by the British army.

“Barring Ramaiah Gowda, many leaders were hanged to death in public in Bikkuru Nayagara Katte, which is now known as Bikarnakatte. The bodies were not handed over to relatives but were left to rot and eaten by eagles,” said Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy (KTSA) President Dayananda G Kathalsar.

Earlier in the day, KTSA and Tulu Rakshana Vedike (TRV), commemorating the 1837 Amara Sullia rising, had launched a ‘Tulu Appe’ ratha yatra from Bikarnakatte.

TRV Founder President Yogish Shetty Jeppu thanked former chairman of KTSA Palthady Ramakrishna Achar for creating awareness about the Amara Sullia rebellion.

The rath yatra ended after the hoisting of flag in Bavutagudde.

A huge poster was erected in Tagore Park highlighting the names of brave peasants who were either executed or banished from the state by the British.

There was also another poster tracing the history of the Amara Sullia rebellion.

MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V, Minister of State for Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport S Angara, among others, were also present.