Generally, movies dramatize the
actual happenings and create heroes, when there were none. The movie made on
the life of Uyyalawada Narasimhareddy is releasing on October 2nd , and
it is one such. It distorts history and presents him as a freedom fighter. As
per history he simply rebelled against the English only because he was granted
a measly pension by them. Let us have a look at his life and the background.
In a kingdom or a Nawabaite as in
the case of Nizam, those who served as vassals of the king, his commanders, and
his rich and influential courtiers who owned lands were used by the Kings as intermediaries
between him and the farmers. The intermediaries also had administrative powers
and functioned as virtual kings of their small areas. In the coastal Andhra
area, those functionaries were known as Jamindars, in Telengana as Sardesmukhs,
Deshmukhs & Jagirdars and in Rayalaseema
as Polygars.
When the kingdoms disintegrated,
and the British took over, initially they continued with the same set of Jamindars.
However, later some changes were made in the revenue system that worked against
these classes. In the Rayalaseema area Thomas Munro came in 1800 AD as the
collector and introduced revenue reforms.
Till then as there was no central
authority the Polygars, and Jamindars had no check as to what is extent of tax
that is to be paid. Some of the Jamindars and most of the Polygars were
indulging to it in excess and made the people suffer. When Munro tried to bring
in a new set of rules to check them, these Jamindars rebelled.
Another big problem is the way in
which the Jamindars have been treated by the English. The English had no idea
of the local customs or the language and offended the Jamindars often. On top
of that they looked at most of the Indians with a condescending and insulting attitude
which made matters worse, and there was discontent even among the common people.
This made the Jamindars more antagonistic to the British.
There were a series of uprisings
against the British in the Circar areas. The first one was by the Jamindars of
Parlakimidi from 1765 onwards, and then by the Jamindar of Ghumsur, Bhanjadeo
in 1778. Then came the turn of the Raja of Vijayanagaram, Vijayaramaraju in
1794.
When the Circars were ceded to
the English in 1802 by the Nizam there were over 80 Polygars in Rayalaseema
with about 30,000 soldiers between them. Their rule however, was very
oppressive and they were exploiting the people badly. As their areas were given
to the company, they defied its authority and refused to pay the Peshcush.
At that time the Collector of
Rayalaseema was Sir Thomas Munro who was to later become the Governor of Madras
Presidency in 1820. He was an extremely able man who could converse freely in
Telugu and is very sympathetic towards the oppressed farmers. The Polygars unitedly
tried to defy the British but Munro brought them to heel in 2 years time,
demolished all their forts and pensioned them off. Even the oppressed farmers
aided Munro in this war. By the time Munro relinquished his office in 1807 as
the Collector of Rayalseema, it became totally free from Polygars.
But the descendant of Uyyalawada
family Narasimhareddy of Cuddapah was not satisfied with the pension of just Rs
11 per month given to him by the company and rebelled in 1846. He assembled an
army of 5,000 soldiers and looted the villages of Rudravaram,
Krishnamsettipalle, Mundlapadu etc. as well as the Koilkuntla taluqa treasury. After
that his army marched on to Giddalur where he was defeated by the British but
Reddy escaped into the Nallamala hills with a small band of followers. Ultimately
the English caught him at Persomella hill and imprisoned him. He was hanged in
1847.
So Narasimhareddy fought for his
own problems and not for freeing India as the movie depicts him to be. It is to
be noted that his loot did not stop with the English but it also encompassed
villages where poor farmers lived. Not only that, Narasimhareddy did not die in
battle and escaped but was caught later. But to his credit he troubled the
English till he was killed.
