Onake Obavva was a brave woman who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle(Onake) in the kingdom of Chitradurga of Karnataka, India.[1]
Background: After the disintegration of the Vijayanagar kingdom, it was divided into vassal states and Chitradurga was one of the vassal states ruled by Nayaks.
During the rule of the Hoysala and Vijayanagar empires, they served as feudatory chieftains. After the fall of both empires, they became independent chieftains and continued to rule the kingdom from 1588 AD to 1779 AD, with the last ruler being ‘Madakari Nayak-V’.[2]
It was during the reign of the last ruler that Hyder Ali — de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore [3] at that time tried to lay siege over the fort and attacked the fort multiple times but due to the fact that the fort was well built, he failed to conquer it multiple times.
Hyder Ali was frustrated that even though they outnumbered the Nayaks they were unable to capture the fort. After sending secret spies and informers and bribing them to find vital information about the fort, one such informer discovered that there is a secret hole or crevice called ‘Kindi’ which would directly lead to the heart of the fort.
Hyder Ali also came to know that the guard guarding this crevice will go to his house to have lunch, which he assumed was the perfect time to launch a surprise attack on the fort.
He decided to send soldiers one by one into the crevice which would lead to the heart of the fort.
Since Kalanayak — the guard went to have lunch, his wife Obbava was on guard. Since there was no water at home his wife Obavva went to the pond near the kindi, to collect water in a pot.
While filling water she heard sounds near the hole. She realized that enemy was lined up and was trying to enter the fort through that hole.
Clueless about what to do, she spotted a wooden club(Onake) nearby and whacked the head of the first soldier so hard entering the fort so hard that he died in a single stroke.
The second one entered and met the same fate. Their bodies were dragged and thrown into the pit. The soldiers who were coming out of the crevice had their heads crushed in a similar way.
The lone women alone killed 100 soldiers who tried to siege the fort on the same day.
Meanwhile, her husband who came back after having lunch to take his guarding position saw his wife stained with blood standing on the corpses of the soldiers.
He immediately blew the trumpet to inform his soldiers to launch an attack on the enemy soldiers. He along with his soldiers killed the enemy soldiers and thereby saved his kingdom that day.
It’s due to Obbava’s bravery the Chitradurga fort was saved that day, but she died the same day due to some uncertain reason — some speculate that she died due to the shock of killing so many soldiers and some speculate she died after the enemy soldier attacked and killed her.
Although later Chitradurga fort was captured by Hyder Ali. But neither death nor defeat could mar the achievements of a guard’s wife. Obavva stood up when the situation demanded it.
With zero experience in warfare, the Bravery and courage she displayed in making the best out of whatever little resource she had to defeat the enemy soldiers who were secretly entering the fort
By doing so, she has set an example for everyone to take on the challenges the life keeps throwing. The crevice which she once guarded is now called Obavvana Kindi.[4][5]
Footnotes
[2] Nayakas of Chitradurga — Wikipedia
[4] [HerStory Flashback] Onake Obavva — An ordinary woman who displayed extraordinary courage
[5] Onake Obavva: The Woman Who Single-handedly Fought Hyder Ali’s Soldiers | #IndianWomenInHistory | Feminism In India
