01The Kongu chief’s fort
Theerthagiri of Melapalayam, whom the Kongu country called Chinnamalai, had served with Tipu Sultan against the Company. After Tipu fell at Srirangapatna in 1799 he came home, built a fort at Odanilai, drilled his men with French help in the use of muskets and cannon, and joined the southern league of the Marudhu brothers and Kattabomman’s brother Oomaithurai. He planned an attack on the Company garrison at Coimbatore in 1800. Tamil memory keeps his fights with Company columns on the Kaveri in 1801, at Odanilai in 1802 and at Arachalur in 1804.
02Betrayal and memory
In 1805 Chinnamalai was betrayed by his own cook, taken with his brothers and his commander Karuppasamy, and carried to the hill fort of Sankagiri, where he was hanged on 31 July 1805, the day of Aadi Perukku. Nothing of the fort at Odanilai stands above the ground. The Tamil Nadu government has built a memorial hall there with his statue, and on Aadi Perukku people of the Kongu villages gather at Odanilai and at Sankagiri to remember him.
The life of this place
- after 1799Dheeran Chinnamalai builds his fort at Odanilai after Tipu Sultan’s fall.
- 1802Chinnamalai’s men fight a Company column at Odanilai.
- 31 July 1805Chinnamalai is hanged at Sankagiri fort.
