Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate from 1780–1790. She was the first queen to fight against the British colonial power in India. She is known by Tamils as Veeramangai.
Life
Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthathal of the Ramnad kingdom. Nachiyar was trained in war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding and archery. She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English and Urdu. She married the king ofSivagangai, with whom she had a daughter. When her husband, MuthuvaduganathaperiyaUdaiya Thevar, was killed by British soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot, she was drawn into battle. She escaped with her daughter. During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali with the aim of attacking the British, whom she did successfully fight in 1780. When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the British stored their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack successfully. Nachiyar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom, and ruled it for ten more years. In 1790, the throne was inherited by her daughter Vellacci. Velu Nachiyar was the first queen to fight for the freedom from the British in India. She granted powers to her Daughter with the Marudu brothers to help administration the country in 1780. Velu Nachiyar died a few years later, on 25 December 1796. T
Popular culture
On 31 December 2008, a commemorative postage stamp in her name was released. OVM Dance Academy of Chennai presenting "VELU NACHIYAR" a Grand Dance Ballet on Sivaganga Queen. Professor A.L.I., a Tamil-American hip-hop artist, released a song dedicated to Velu Nachiyar entitled "Our Queen" as part of his Tamilmatic album in 2016. On 21 August 2017, a grand dance ballet was conducted in Naradha Gana Sabha in Chennai depicting the life history of the queen Velu Nachiyar. The play was directed by Sriram Sharma, who researched on the Queen's life history for almost a decade.
