01The Desai’s daughter
Kakati was one of the many small desagati holdings of the Belagavi country, held by a family of Desais. Chennamma was born here in 1778 to Dhulappa Desai and his wife Padmavati. As a girl she learned to ride, to use the sword and to shoot with the bow, skills that were not unusual in the fighting households of the region. At about fifteen she was married to Raja Mallasarja Desai of Kittur, some 40 km away. After his death and the death of their son, she adopted Shivalingappa as heir; the Company’s refusal to recognise him led to the fight of 23 October 1824, in which the Dharwad collector Thackeray was killed.
02Kakati today
Kakati lies on the old Pune–Bengaluru road just north of Belagavi city, and the national highway now runs past it. Karnataka honours Chennamma with the Kittur Utsava every October and her statues stand in Belagavi, Kittur and Bengaluru; in Kakati the village keeps her memory as its own daughter. Kittur fell to the Company in December 1824, and she died a prisoner at Bailhongal on 21 February 1829. On 11 September 2007 a statue of Rani Chennamma was unveiled in the Parliament House complex in New Delhi.
The life of this place
- 1778Chennamma is born at Kakati.
- 23 October 1824Chennamma’s men beat off the Company at Kittur.
- 11 September 2007Her statue is unveiled in the Parliament House complex.
