#192: From my unlocked diaries: The forgotten pepper queen of North Canara

She ruled for 54 years.? She taught the mighty Portuguese colonizers a lesson that they would never forget. ?She dominated the extremely profitable pepper export trade, which the Portuguese tried to scuttle from her. The ruthless persecution by the Portuguese would have erased many local communities, if not for her.? Who was this queen from North Canara in Karnataka… ??

Hold on, will tell you soon …

In the mid-16th century the battle of Talikota between Rama Raya of Vijayanagar empire and the Deccan Sultanate resulted in Rama Raya’s defeat and his beheading.

Post this battle the Vijayanagar empire disintegrated into several small provinces ruled by local royal families forming their own independent kingdoms. One such kingdom was Gerusoppa in North Western Karnataka (Honnavara Taluk in North Canara district) ruled by the Saluva dynasty.? Into this dynasty was born – Chennabhairadevi.?

Chennabhiradevi became the queen of Gerusoppa in the year 1552 when she was just 18 years, and she ruled for a record 54 years - a feat un-paralleled by any other Indian king or queen.

So, how did she manage to hold on and rule for so many years? Her rule was characterised by 3 Ts – Tactic, Trade and Tradition.

Tactics

One thing she realised early on was to build a very strong army trained in the use of gun powder, cannons and building forts. ?She was shrewd at war tactics.? All this helped when she was attacked by the neighboring Bilagi king, as soon as she became the queen.? Thinking the young queen would be too weak to defend, the Bilagi kingdom attacked. That was proven completely wrong. ?She routed the Bilagi attack successfully.? That was her very first victory. ?

Shortly after this the Portuguese attacked Gerusoppa.? In a fierce battle, they too were beaten back by the Gerusoppa army. Chenabhairadevi had proven that even the Portuguese army was not invincible. ?

She continued to keep her army ever alert, continuously fortifying her defenses by building forts in strategic locations.

In order to ensure adequate support in case the Portuguese attacked her again, she did not even hesitate to form a treaty with Adil Sha of Bijapur to provide military help, in return for paying royalty. ?The Portuguese sensing their authority over pepper trade quickly diminishing decided to enhance their naval fleet in the region.? Next, they threatened the queen that they would burn down her town, if she refused to pay them taxes on the huge spices trade that the Gerusoppa kingdom was generating.

Soon, the Portuguese threats turned into reality.?

A few days later a fully armed Portuguese naval fleet approached Honnavara coast threatening with their cannons.? But queens army was ready with Chennabhiradevi leading from the front with a gun.? Even before the Portuguese naval fleet could land on the coast, the Gerusoppa army attacked with cannons and guns from the shore.? Chennabhairadevi rode up & down her horse motivating and enthusing her ranks to never give up.? She appeared like a ‘Ranachandi’, determined to defend her motherland.? A fierce battle lasted for 3 days amidst rain and thunder.?

At last, the Portuguese were again beaten back, many of their naval ships burnt and many just fled abandoning their fleet. ?

Determined to completely uproot the colonial power, Chennabharadevi next reached out to neighboring kingdoms of Zamorins from Calicut, Sultans of Ahmednagar and Adil Shah of Bijapur to form a military alliance to drive out the Portuguese completely out of Goa …and out of India.? This is perhaps one of the earliest united attempts by the Indian kingdoms to drive out a colonial power, way back in the 16th century much before the much talked about the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.

Trade

So, by now you must have guessed… it was the pepper trade that was making Portuguese and other neighboring kingdom attack Gerusoppa.? Pepper being a spice crop that was grown abundantly in the region, Chennabhiradevi quickly realised the Portuguese ploy to dominate the trade – to buy cheap locally, and export it at a huge profit to western markets where there was tremendous demand for white & black pepper. ?

Sensing this opportunity the queen was extremely smart to not just manage the logistics of locally buying, but also directly exporting pepper & spices to western markets using traders from Persia, thereby securing the entire margin. ?

Her procurement, transportation and shipping strategy was perhaps unmatched during the time.? Pepper would be purchased from locals and stored in fortified underground wells, which had secret tunnels at a depth of about 20 to 25 feet starting from underneath these fortified wells.? These underground tunnels ran for several miles to reach the back waters closer to port of Honnavar and Bhatkal.? From here the pepper would be secretly taken on smaller boats to its final destination, to be loaded into large ships at sea to be exported.?

The queen had entered into barter system to export pepper for a very high price, in exchange for guns and horses. This strategic handling of pepper exports, right under the nose of the Portuguese, and without paying them their 'due' is what angered the colonial power, and earned her name – ‘Raina-Da-Pimenta’, meaning the - 'Pepper Queen' !?

Tradition

Chennabharadevi was a follower of Jainism, but equally patronized other Hindu religions following Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shaka faiths.? She built many Jain Basathis and temples in the region.

But right next to her kingdom, in the Portuguese occupied territory of Goa a horrible religious bigotry was being enacted.? In southern Goa a missionary priest called D’Souza was actively involved in imposing Christianity at the expense of native religions. In 1567, an army commander called Diogo Rodrigues vandalized over 200 Hindu temples.

The brutality of the Portuguese soldiers towards the women in particular was unimaginable. Forced conversions & marriages and senseless killing, if they refused to convert was the order of the day. By the year 1560, most Brahmin women in the Goa region had been forcibly converted.

Unable to bear the persecution waves of Hindu refugees fled to Gerusoppa seeking shelter and asylum, as they had heard about the queen, and her just and compassionate rule. Chennabhairadevi accepted all of them, embraced them and even employed them as sailors, carpenters and boat builders.? These refugees were loyal to the queen and ended up developing a network of roads and built boats for the navy. ?For her love and care towards the refugees, she was fondly called – ‘Avvarasi’, which means ‘Queen Mother’

However, all good things must come to an end, and so did her rule. The two neighboring kingdoms – Bilagi and Keladi came together and finally managed to defeat her. The queen was taken as a prisoner.? She eventually died in Prison during the year 1606.

One often wonders if only Indian kings & queens had come together like Chennabhairadevi to fight outside enemies, rather than fighting with each other…perhaps our history and years of slavery and colonial rule would be much shorter… ?

Queen Chennabhairadevi dominated the region like a skill-full chess player, outwitting multiple adversaries.? She was a warrior, a shrewd administrator and a business women – all rolled into one.

A Portuguese record from the year 1586 sort of sums up how they feared Chennabhairadevi.

“We must deal with her most carefully and diplomatically. We must be very cautious, polite and diplomatic to win her over” – this is a true testimony to the fear and respect she commanded from the colonizer.

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April 7, 2024

Balu

(Based on a story I heard during Bangalore Lit Fest & Kannada novel on Chennabhairadevi by Dr. Gajanana Sharma)

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