Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and chieftain in Tamil Nadu, India. He fought against the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the British with the help of the ruler of the kingdom of Pudukottai, Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman, and at the age of 39 he was hanged at Kayathar on 16 October 1799.
He was a Vatuka (northerner), a loose term for a group of Telugu-speaking castes which includes families who claim to have moved south to settle in the arid Thoothukudi region after the collapse of the Nayaka-controlled Vijayanagara Empire in 1565. They had previously had some prominence in the imperial court and may have been adept at farming in dry conditions, although it is also possible that they had no choice but to settle where they did because the other significant community of Tirunelveli – the Maravars – had already occupied the more favourable areas. Kattabomman was a member of the Kambalatar caste, with the other two Vadugan communities being the Kammavars and the Reddies.
Contents
- Legacy
- Controversies
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Legacy
Kattabomman memorial at Kayathar
The historian Susan Bayly says that Kattabomman is considered a Robin Hood-like figure in local folklore and is the subject of several traditional narrative ballads in the kummiverse form. The site of his execution at Kayathar has become a “powerful local shrine” and at one time sheep were sacrificed there. The Government of Tamil Nadu maintains a memorial at Kayathar and the remnants of the old fort at Panchalankurichi is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. In 2006, the Tirunelveli district administration organised a festival at Panchalankurichi on his birth anniversary.
The Tamil-language film Veerapandiya Kattabomman, starring Sivaji Ganesan, is based on his life.
To commemorate the bicentenary of Kattabomman’s hanging, the Government of India released a postal stamp in his honour on 16 October 1999. The Indian Navycommunications centre at Vijayanarayanam is named INS Kattabomman.
Controversies
Tamil poet Kannadasan wrote a script about Kattabomman which was adapted into Sivagangai Seemai. According to him Maruthu Pandiyars were the real freedom fighters, not Kattabomman. Kannadasan’s assertion was supported by writer Tamilvanan, who criticised Kattabomman’s glorification.