Rani Abbakka's vow

A riddle: a queen with a shining sword in her hand, her son tied on her back, who died defending her land in 1857. Yes, Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi! Now meet another brave queen, from long before, whom fewer people know. The third text in Unit 5 is a comic, with pictures and speech balloons: Rani Abbakka.

It opens at a bedside. Hiriya Abbakka, queen of Ullal (a small kingdom on the west coast of Karnataka), is dying. Years before, Ullal had been captured by the Portuguese and became a vassal: a state controlled by a stronger country, forced to pay it tribute (money it demands).

Her daughter and successor (the one who will rule next), Abbakka Devi, sits by her. "Alas, Abbakka! I lie here helpless, while the Portuguese..." "Hush, Mother! I am here. And I will not rest till I have driven them out of the west coast!"

The next day, Abbakka Devi was crowned queen. Her first words to her people were a request, not an order: "I need your whole-hearted co-operation to make Ullal stronger, secure, free!" "We are with you, Your Majesty!"

After the coronation (crowning ceremony), she told her husband, Veera Narasimha, king of Bangadi: "I will stop paying tribute to the Portuguese. And I won't sell them spices and cloth either."

He was alarmed: "Isn't that a rather rash (hasty, careless) decision?" And he thought: "And dangerous, for me. The Portuguese might think I'm in league with her, and Bangadi may face their wrath (great anger). I must make her change her mind."

Her reply is the line the story turns on: "You may be afraid of the Portuguese. But I refuse to be cowed by them." (Cowed = frightened into obeying.) From then on, she was on her own.