The forgotten villages of Karnataka that fought, and died, for freedom
Hundreds of Indian hamlets contributed to the freedom struggle in their own little ways, but most vanished from our memory. Here’s remembering a few in Karnataka
On the bank of the River Shimsha, in a nondescript village in Karnataka’s Mandya district, a quiet ‘satyagraha’ of its kind took birth on April 9, 1938. On the farmland of a villager named Thirumale Gowda, the Indian national flag was hoisted — an antinational activity at the time. It was the people’s symbolic protest against the tax levied on farmers by the imperial British government.
The Shivapura ‘Dhwaja Satyagraha’ was inspired by the Indian National Congress’s 51st session held at Haripura village of Gujarat in 1938. The session was presided over by Subhas Chandra Bose.
The then president of Indian National Congress from Mysuru State, T Siddalingaiah, and others had initially planned to hoist the tricolour at Nanjangud or Srirangapatna. But after the residents of these two places raised concerns, a young HK Veeranna Gowda of Shivapura village offered to organize the event and hoist the national flag in Shivapura. Another Congress activist, Thirumale Gowda, agreed to support the plan and offered nine acres of his land to hold the historic flag-hoisting ceremony.
The Shivapura protest has been memorialised in the Shivapura Satyagraha Soudha — an inspiring monument located next to the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway at Shivapura in Maddur taluk
Areca nut flag post
The organizers chose a 60-foot areca nut tree in a nearby village as the flag post. The tree was cut, but the organisers did not want the trunk to touch the ground — they felt it would dishonour the flag and the flag post. They carried it on three bullock carts to Shivapura.
On that chosen date — on April 9, 1938 — Siddalingaiah was the first to try to hoist the flag. But the Mysuru Police took him into custody. Then, another prominent Congress leader, MN Jois, took his place and unfurled the flag.
“Freedom fighters initially wanted to hoist the flag for three consecutive days. Significantly, it was hoisted continuously for many more days, as a large number of people gathered and protected the flag post. It was mostly women who sat around the flag post and protected it, while policemen were stationed in Shivapura village,” recalled 95-year-old Bhadrayya, who was all of 10 at the time.
A recent replication
The symbolic protest has been memorialised in the Shivapura Satyagraha Soudha — an inspiring monument located next to the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway at Shivapura in Maddur taluk.
Interestingly, taking a leaf out of the Shivapura protest, a state-wide ‘Dhwaja Satyagraha’ was launched in Karnataka 84 years later, in protest against the amendments made by the BJP led NDA government at the Centre to the Flag Code of India in 2022, allowing the hoisting of machine-made synthetic flags.
Before the amendment, the tricolour could only be made by hand using khadi material. Naming their movement the “Dhwaja Satyagraha” after the Shivapura protest, the protesters urged the government to offer rebates for khadi flags to support handloom units.
One of the protests inspired by the Shivapura Dhwaja Satyagraha turned into a tragedy in Vidurashwatha village on April 25, 1938. Police fired 96 rounds, taking down at least 10 freedom fighters when they tried to hoist the national flag
The Jallianwala Bagh of Karnataka
The Shivapura Dhwaja Satyagraha had inspired freedom fighters at that time as well. And one of those protests turned into a tragedy in Vidurashwatha village in Chikkaballapura district on April 25, 1938. Police fired 96 rounds, taking down at least 10 freedom fighters when they tried to hoist the national flag.
The plan was for a group of Indian National Congress leaders, volunteers and villagers from neighbouring Hindupur and Gauribidanur to march to Vidurashwatha and unfurl the flags on the branches of huge trees. However, British officials got a whiff of the plan and imposed prohibitive orders in the area.
Undeterred, hundreds of people waited under the chosen trees to hoist the national flag. But the police arrived and sprayed them with bullets. According to official figures of the British government, at least 10 people were killed in the firing. But Nagarathna, a member of the Swatantrya Smaraka Abhivrudhi Samithi, which maintains the museum in Vidurashwatha, says according to local records, as many as 32 freedom fighters, including women, died in the police firing.
The incident caught international attention, and the then national leaders visited Vidurashwatha and paid rich tributes to the deceased. A memorial was built at the site in 2009, with the names of the martyrs engraved on the plaque. The adjoining museum and library chronicle the rebellion of Vidurashwatha. However, the religious significance of Vidhurashwatha has now sidelined its historic significance.
The Bardoli of Karnataka
Another well-documented movement in Karnataka was the Civil Disobedience Movement in Ankola, a town in the present Uttara Kannada district. In fact, Ankola is often called the “Bardoli of Karnataka”. The Bardoli Satyagraha was led by Sardar Vallabhai Patil for the farmers of Gujarat’s Bardoli against an unjust hike in taxes. Similarly, Ankola found a place on the Indian freedom struggle map because of the Salt Satyagraha launched there in April 1930.
Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March, the local Congress leaders had decided to achieve a similar feat in Ankola. As the people of Ankola insisted that their coastal village would be most suitable for a salt satyagraha, Congress leader Hanumantha Rao Koujalagi reported it to the national leaders.
The leaders chose Pujegere village, some 1.5 km from Ankola, to launch the salt satyagraha. It was planned to coincide with the anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
“Though the movement was initially limited to a salt satyagraha, it later took on a different shape, with the leaders deciding to take it forward as the “Kara Nirakarana Chaluvali” (No Tax Movement),” said Shantharam Nayak, a relative of one of the volunteers of the salt satyagraha.
Ankola found a place on the Indian freedom struggle map because of the Salt Satyagraha launched there in April 1930
Making of salt from seawater
Accordingly, on April 6, 1930, a group of volunteers and Congress leaders, including Hanumanna Govind Nayak Vandige, Bommayya Raku Gaonkar Basgod, Veeranna Bommayya Nayak Kangil, and Basgod Ramanna Nayak, started their march from Hubli and reached Ankola on April 13. The other leaders who participated in it were Dr Hardekar, KA Venkataramaiah, MC Mathanda, Gudgeppa Hallikeri, Tekur Subrahmanya, and KT Bhashyam. On April 13, 1930, a large gathering of 40,000 people, led by MP Nadkarni, broke the rule by making salt at Pujigere, a village near Ankola.
“A few of them collected the saltwater and mud and returned to the taluk office. There, they made salt by boiling the water. A few spirited volunteers bought it and violated the oppressive salt tax imposed by the imperial government. The government arrested the volunteers and Ankola’s name was etched forever in the history of the Civil Disobedience Movement,” said Shantharama Nayak. Despite the oppression, the salt satyagraha continued for 45 days in Ankola.
The toddy tree movement
The Shivapura Dhwaja Satyagraha, the Vidurashwatha protest, and the Ankola salt satyagraha have remained in public memory because of the efforts of local historians to document them. But many other regional movements that played a crucial role in shaping the freedom struggle have faded away without getting documented.
One of those was the Eachalu Marada Chaluvali (Toddy Tree Movement). In response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for the prohibition of liquor in 1939, over 100 villagers, including women, started cutting down toddy palm trees in and around Turuvanuru village in Chitradurga district, under the leadership of Gandhian S Nijalingappa, who went on to become the chief minister of Karnataka.
The movement lasted for many months. Upon hearing of this movement, Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary Mahadev Desai visited the village and extended support to the agitation. The Mysore Wadiyar, who was an ally of British, imposed the Pundu Kandaya (Rogue Tax) on the villagers, as felling of toddy palm trees had resulted in a revenue loss to the government. But the villagers refused to pay the tax and the movement turned out to be a part of the larger “no-tax campaign” in Chitradurga.
The Halagali Beda uprising
Another extremely touching but forgotten protest happened in Karnataka during the 1857 First war of Independence — in Halagali, a tiny village in Bagalkot district, then a part of the Mudhol princely state. The Beda community, who were famous as hunters and soldiers, valiantly fought the British to protect their right of keeping arms as a cultural symbol, and chose the supreme sacrifice of self-immolation to defend it.
In response to the First War of Independence, the British government had passed the Disarming Act to regulate the possession of arms. But the people of Halagali refused to give up their arms. This resulted in an armed confrontation on November 29, 1857. The Bedas fought courageously and, sensing defeat, Colonel Malcolm ordered his troops to set their houses ablaze. Instead of surrendering, the Bedas preferred self-immolation. According to native history, those who survived were tried for treason and sentenced to death.
Time to remember
Later, the people of Mudhol supported the armed struggle by making hand bombs and supplying those and sickles to revolutionaries. To avoid suspicion, they named those crude bombs after vegetables.
Koraduru turned out to be a factory of freedom fighters. The local Garadi Mane (wrestling ground) trained many youngsters to participate in the freedom struggle. Vinobha Bhave had established a khadi centre here.
Masabinala has a similar history. This village contributed over 150 freedom fighters, and Congress leaders, including Hardekar Manjappa, inspired many youngsters here to join the freedom struggle.
Inspired by Gandhian principles, Hudali, a small village in Belagavi district, contributed in its own way to the freedom struggle. A week-long stay by Mahatma Gandhi here changed the face of this tiny village, which is still evident in its 100-year-old khadi industry.
Other than these, Mundaragi village in Gadag district, Mudhola of Kalaburagi district, Koradura of Haveri district, and Masabinala of Vijayapura district have contributed to the freedom struggle in their own ways. But their stories have not been recorded in the book of Indian Independence.
Centenarian freedom fighter and social activist, HS Doreswamy, who passed away in 2021, believed that “these stories [are] sure to remind the people of Karnataka about the hundreds of villages that are connected to the history of the country’s Independence. It is time for the country to record their history”.
