Kattabomman
Veerapandiya Kattabomman ('Veerapandiyan' means 'brave one in the
pandiyan line') also known as
Kattabomman or
Katta Bommu hails from Panchalankurichi, a historically important place, in the present day
Thoothukudi, a district in
Tamil Nadu,
India.
Veerapandiya Kattabomman was born in an Nayakkar? family to Aadi Kattabommu and Aarumugathammal on January 3, 1760 and became the 47th king of Panchalankurichi at an age of 30. Veerapandiya Kattabomman's father Aadi Kattabomman was a
minister in the court of Jagaveera Pandiyan, a desendent in the
Pandya line. Jagaveera pandiyan was issueless and declared Kattabomman as his successor. Since Kattabomman was the first of the new clan, he came to be known as Adi Kattabomman (
aadi means first or beginning in
Sanskrit and
Tamil).
History is that Aadi Kattabomman, before becoming a
minister at Jagaveera Pandiyan's court, migrated from the present day
Andhra Pradesh to Panchalankurichi. His actual name was Bommulu or Bommu. Bommu's physical strength and appearance earned him the name Getti Bommu (strong Bommu) which later, influenced by the local language Tamil, became Katta Bommu (Kattabomman).
Veerapandiya Kattabomman is among the kings in southern India who resisted the
British East India Company. He initially evaded tax that the British demanded and ignored repeated summons to meet collector Jackson. Later his meeting with Jackson ended in a physical combat in which Deputy Commandant of the Company's forces, Clarke, was slain. He later revolted against the British by refusing to pay taxes when a new collector was assigned to retrieve due taxes. This resulted in the British East India Company, under the leadership of Major Bannerman, dispatchng the army to capture Kattabomman. The Company's army circled Kattabomman's fort at Salikulam, a few miles from Panchalanckurichi, intending to arrest him there. This later turned out to be lossful battle for the British with them losing a great fraction of the assigned troops including Lieutenant Collins. Immediately after the retreat of the British forces, Kattabomman vacated his fort suspecting impending cannon attacks from the British which his fort may not have withstood. The East India Company put a price on his head. He was later betrayed by the Raja of
Pudukottai which resulted in his arrest and subsequent execution. He was hung from a tamarind tree in 1799 at kayathar. After that his fort was completely demolished by the British and his wealth was looted.
The government of Tamil Nadu honored the hero by raising a monumental fort at Panchalankurichi in his memory. His name is remembered among the people as a brave tamil hero who stood against the British long before the first war of Indian independence that would be instigated by Mangal Pandey on 1857.
