#DidYouKnow #AbbakkaChowta #KnowYourHistory

In1555, Portuguese were at their peak
>Destroyed Zamorins of Calicut
>Captured Daman & Bombay. Made Goa headquarters
>Destroyed the ancient Kapaleeswarar Temple to build a Church over it

Next target was the super profitable port of Mangalore
Their only bad luck, just 14 kilometers south of Mangalore was the small settlement of Ullal - ruled then by a feisty 30 year old woman - Abbakka Chowta.

Initially, they took her lightly and sent a few boats/soldiers to capture & bring her back to Goa
>Boats never came back
Shocked/enraged, they sent a huge fleet of ships this time, under Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira
>Admiral soon returned, badly injured and empty handed

Thereafter, another Portuguese fleet was sent - only a few injured from the crew managed to make it back.

Then the Portuguese went on to capture the Mangalore port &the fort anyways, perhaps planning to tackle Mrs. Chowta from the convenient distance of the Mangalore fort

After the successful capture of Mangalore, a huge army under João Peixoto, an experienced Portuguese General was sent to Ullal.
>Plan was foolproof- there was no way a 30 year old with a few men could withstand the might of an army of thousands with advanced weapons.

Portuguese reached Ullal & found it deserted
>Roamed around, relaxed, just when they were about to call it a victory - Mrs Chowta attacked with 200 of her chosen men,there was chaos all around & many Portuguese died without a fight
>General João Peixoto was assassinated

Same night Rani Chowta rode with her men towards Mangalore & laid siege of Mangalore fort
>She broke inside the fort successfully & assassinated Admiral Mascarenhas the Chief of the Portuguese power there & forced the remaining Portuguese to vacate the fort

She didn’t just stop at this but went on to capture the Portuguese settlement at Kundapura(100kms north of Mangalore) just to make a point

Chowta was a Jain who fought against the Portuguese with an army a full 300 years before the First War of Indian Independence in 1857!

What did we Indians do to her, as a mark of our respect and gratitude?
We didn’t name our girls after her
We didn’t even teach her stories to our kids.
Yes we did release a Postal Stamp in her name, named a boat after her & erected 2 statues, yes 2 statues in whole of India!