Chennamma (1778 - 1829) was born in Belagavi district of the present day Indian state of Karnataka.  She was trained as a child in archery, sword-fighting and cavalry arts, unusual for a girl in that era, and was married to Mallasarja Desai, the ruler of Kitturu, as his second wife.  Kitturu was a small, prosperous kingdom in the present day border district of Belgaum.  Following the untimely death of Mallasarja in the wake of his capture by the powerful Peshwa of the Maratha kingdom, Rani Chennamma takes over the reins of Kitturu and installs Mallasarja’s Senior Queen’s son, Shiva Linga Rudra Sarja, as the ruler.  Soon thereafter, Rani Chennamma’s own son dies in the 3rd Anglo-Maratha War of 1818.  The childless Shiva Linga Rudra Sarja succumbs to tuberculosis after discretely adopting a son in 1824.  The British contest the validity of the adoption, and lock the treasury of Kitturu in a move to eventually take over control of Kitturu. Chennamma defiantly breaks open the treasury, paving the way for the first battle of Kitturu against the British in October 1824. The British forces suffer a humiliating defeat, and Chennamma negotiates a treaty in return for release of two captured British officers.  In a second battle in December, a combination of a much larger British army and treachery by some of Kitturu’s lieutenants results in the Kitturu fort being breached. Rani Chennamma is captured and held captive in the nearby Bailahongala fort until her death in 1829. The story of Rani Chennamma is that of an early assertion of pride and independence by a ruler in the Indian sub-continent against the spread of British hegemony in the region in the face of great personal tragedies. 

Glossary: 

Rani: Queen 

Marathas: A powerful kingdom in the north of Belgaum district. At its peak, it covered most of present day state of Maharashtra. 

Peshwa: A clan of hereditary Prime Ministers of the Maratha kingdom, they were de facto rulers of the Maratha kingdom from the mid-1700s.