With tough determination, these women faced the British

Just five kilometres from the world-famous Jog Falls is Mavingundi, a scenic village on the border of Uttara Kannada’s Siddapur taluk. Tourists en route Jog may easily skip visiting this village today, but the valour and perseverance of the women satyagrahis of the village had drawn the attention of the country during the freedom struggle.

During the 1930s, the British used to collect a tax called ‘Hulabanni Terige’ from people whose cattle grazed in the forest areas, and would seize the properties of people who failed to pay the tax.

It was May 1932 and a few farm women from Mavingundi were unable to pay the tax.

Irked by this, a karkoon who worked for the British, along with a hawaldar from the Mavingundi police outpost, barged into the houses of these women and forcefully took away buffaloes, a major source of their income.

Protesting such oppression and refusing to pay the taxes, the women, including a young mother with her infant, launched a hunger strike in front of the karkoon’s house. They gave up food and survived on water for nearly a month.

While Tyagali Bhuvaneshwaramma held the fast for 32 days, Kallala Lakshmamma went without food for 22 days. Many other women joined them in the hunger strike.

The protest took place in peak monsoon. During this time, the women suffered torture for their dissent.

The British officers kicked, scorned and beat them with tree logs every day. The women were even put in jail, but none of them relented. Finally, the satyagrahis won their battle and the buffaloes were returned to them.

“The objective of the women satyagrahis was not just to get back their buffaloes, but also oppose the British tyranny that had shaken the country. They could have easily stepped back. But they faced the British and won. Their victory inspired many other women to join the freedom struggle in the region,” said historian Laxmeesh Hegde Sonda.

Memorial

As a tribute to these women satyagrahis, the forest department and the Western Ghats Task Force constructed a memorial at Mavingundi in 2012.

Statues depicting their heroism were installed at the place where the women had staged the hunger strike.

However, the memorial is in bad shape today.

“Due to lack of maintenance and coordination among the authorities, the memorial has lost its sheen. But these forgotten freedom fighters deserve to be celebrated,” said Jayaprakash Hegde, a veteran of the village.

He says that the memorial, the Smaraka Bhavan, must
once again be developed so that tourists coming to Jog Falls can visit Mavingundi and learn about the story of the unsung satyagrahis.