The very mention of the name ‘Vannuramma’ brought chill to the spine of the Matli kings and Kadapa Nawabs. Of all the Polegars (local chieftains) who had ruled the regional territories of Rayalaseema before the advent of the British, the lone woman ruler remains forgotten from the pages of history.
She ruled five ‘Durgams’ (under fiefdom) between 1781 and 1796 with Sakarlapadu as the administrative headquarters. According to historical accounts, she was born in Pathimadugu Rekulakunta, now in Kadapa district, and got married to Veerneni Chinna Narasimha Naidu in 1764. The family had the practice of praying at Vannuru Swamy temple in Kalyanadurgam of Anantapur district. Vannuramma thus got her name as she was born, as believed, as the god’s gift.
Though there are not many historical accounts, Kadapa-based writer Bommisetty Ramesh brought out the first book last year on her. Based on information culled out from the Mackenzie Kaifiyat of Kadapa, he extensively toured the region ruled by her, collected folklore and verified the same with historians.
Wins back territory
Under attack from fellow Polegars, Vannuramma’s family fled Thippireddypalle and took shelter in Chagalamarri fort, where they lived for eight years before her husband breathed his last in 1780. Vannuramma wielded the sword when the Matli king Appayya Raju and Mysore Sultan Hyder Ali’s follower Meeru Saheb waged a war, invaded Sakerlapadu Durgam and robbed the property of locals. Mobilising her army, she declared a war and brought the territory back into her fold in 1781. The Sakarlapadu fortress, now in shambles, is spread over 10 acres, with huge walls measuring 10 feet in height and a deep trench dug all over its periphery to shield it from the onslaught of enemies.
Inhuman punishment
Even the Golconda Nawabs, through their Kadapa henchman Khadarvali Khan, tried in vain to control her. It was then they hatched a plan to woo her adopted son and arrested her on some flimsy charges. “When the unsuspecting Vannuramma attended the Matli king’s court to prove her innocence, she was slapped with charges of treason. The Nawabs captured her and sentenced her with ‘Korthi’, an inhuman form of punishment where a person is made to sit on a sharpened tree stump and left to die,” Mr. Ramesh narrates to The Hindu.
Vannuramma died in full public view in the year 1718 of Salivahana Saka, which translates to August 16, 1796, i.e., 226 years back. The dilapidated forts and the temple of her favourite goddess Gopidevi stand testimony to her existence, Mr. Ramesh adds.
