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- Onake Obavva died fighting the troops of Hyder Ali when he invaded the Chitradurga Fort, which was ruled by Madakari Nayaka in the 18th century.
‘Onake Obavva Jayanti’
- From 2021, the Karnataka government has decided to celebrate ‘Onake Obavva Jayanti’ on November 11 throughout the state.
- A state-sponsored celebration of the birth anniversary of Onake Obavva.
- A woman warrior who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle (‘onake’ in Kannada) in Chitradurga in the 18th century.
About Onake Obavva
- Obavva is considered to be the epitome of Kannada pride.
- She was the wife of soldier Kahale Mudda Hanuma, who was the guard of the fort.
- She died fighting the troops of Hyder Ali who was a ruler of the Mysore Kingdom and father of Tipu Sultan.
- Chitradurga Fort, locally known as Elusuttina Kote, (the fort of seven circles in Kannada), situated 200 km northwest of Bengaluru.
- She is celebrated along with other women warriors of Karnataka state like
- Abbakka Rani
- First Tuluva Queen of Ullal in coastal Karnataka who fought the Portuguese,
- Keladi Chennamma
- The queen of the Keladi Kingdom who is known for fighting against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
- Kittur Chennamma
- Queen of Kittur is known for the 1824 revolt against the British East India Company.
- Abbakka Rani
The folklore
- One day, Obavva, while fetching water, heard the muffled sounds of Hyder Ali’s soldiers trying to enter the fort through a small hole
- That was just big enough for one person at a time to crawl through.
- She heard the soldiers talking among themselves and rushed back home to tell her husband.
- But since he was having lunch, she decided to fight them alone.
- Obbava took an ‘onake’ or pestle (a wooden long club meant for pounding paddy grains) from her house and hid silently next to the stone hole.
- She killed each soldier as his head appeared through the opening and dragged his body inside the wall.
- By the time her husband and others came to her aid, many of Hyder Ali’s soldiers were already dead.
- Obbava killed by Hyder Ali’s soldiers
- After Obbava’s attack her husband went up to the fort and blew his horn to alert the army about the invaders.
- Madakari Nayaka’s soldiers rushed and killed everyone in Hyder Ali’s small troop.
- But while directing the army towards the enemy, Obbava missed to spot the last invader who entered the fort and he killed her.
Obavva’s legacy in Karnataka
- Onake Obavva’s courage and quick thinking have been praised by many.
- A stadium is named after her in the Chitradurga fort .
- Her sculpture is installed by the government near the district commissioner’s office in Chitradurga.
- The hole through which Hyder Ali’s soldiers entered is called ‘Onake Obavvana Kindi’ (kindi means hole in Kannada) and
- has become a tourist spot along with the Chitradurga Fort.
Obavva squad police
- In 2018, the Chitradurga police started ‘Obavva Pade’, a squad of women police constables to protect and educate women in the district.
- Obavva squads were deployed in various parts of the district for teaching and educating them about
- basic self-defence
- the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act,
- offences under the Indian Penal Code,
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,
- cybercrimes, and mobile offences.
- In 2019 the Shivamogga district police started the squad with two female constables and one male constable patrolling the city.
- covering schools, colleges and other places to keep tabs on the eve-teasers.
- Her courageous deed is depicted in a famous song sequence in the 1972 Kannada movie ‘Nagarahavu’
- directed by the famous Kannada film director Puttanna Kanagal.
Source: IE
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