Kittur Chennamma (23 October 1778 – 21 February 1829)[1] was the Indian queen (rani) of Kittur, a princely state in present-day Karnataka. She belonged to the Lingayat community and received training in horse riding, sword fighting and archery from a young age. She married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family at the age of 15. Following the death of her husband and son, Rani Chennamma adopted Shivalingappa in the year 1824 and made him the heir to the throne. Rani Chennamma was left with the state of Kittur and an uphill task to save it from the British.
She led an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian control over the region, but was defeated and died imprisoned. One of the first female rulers to rebel against British rule, she has become a folk hero in Karnataka and symbol of the independence movement in India.