CHENNAI: Fifty years before the Sepoy Mutiny, a small chieftain down south decide to oppose the
British
East India company. The British, furious, destroyed his fort, conquered his land and hanged him from a tamarind tree hoping to annihilate his legacy.
Instead, the memory of
Veera Pandiya Kattabomman
stands stronger than ever and he is remembered and a story built around him, much bigger in magnitude than he ever was.
A free lecture by historian Venkatesh Ramakrishnan of the Madras Local History Group titled “Reinvention of Kattabomman” will delve into the life of the hero. The talk will be held at the Arkay Convention Centre in Chennai at 5.30pm on April 6.
The 18th century chieftain from Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu refused to pay tax to the British East India Company which led him to war with British. He was hanged in 1799.
“In 1959, he was immortalised by Shivaji Ganesan in the film ‘Veerapandiya Kattabomman’,” says Ramakrishnan. “So much that people identify the two together. The statue erected by the government in Kattabomman’s fort has a distinct resemblance to Shivaji Ganesan.”
There was opposition too, regarding the legend of Kattabomman, says Ramakrishnan. “Kannadasan, one of the greatest Tamil poets, and famous detective story writer Tamilvanan, opposed efforts to popularise
Kattabomman
saying he was just a bandit and there were better freedom fighters to whom we owed our liberty,” says Ramakrishnan.
“Still, most consider him a superstar
freedom fighter
,” says Ramakrishnan.
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