Rani Abbakka Chowta

Abbakka was the queen of a tiny coastal town called Ullal, on the Arabian Sea. When powerful Portuguese ships arrived to take control of the spice trade, other rulers gave in.

Abbakka refused. She gathered fishermen, farmers and soldiers of many faiths — Hindus, Jains and Muslims — and together they fought back with swords, spears and even flaming coconut torches thrown at Portuguese boats at night.

For more than forty years the Portuguese could not defeat her.

Rani Abbakka Chowta, sometimes called Abhaya Rani ('the fearless queen'), belonged to the Chowta dynasty of Tulu Nadu on the southwestern coast of India. She ruled from Ullal, near modern Mangaluru, from the mid-16th century.

Following the local matrilineal Aliyasantana tradition she inherited the throne from her uncle.

From the 1550s onwards she repeatedly defeated Portuguese attempts to capture Ullal, most famously routing a large Portuguese force in 1568 and sinking their commander's ship. She built a broad coalition across castes and faiths, and is remembered for one of the earliest recorded uses of 'agnivana' — fire arrows — against European ships.

Betrayed by her estranged husband, she was eventually captured around 1570 and died in prison, still refusing to surrender. Today Karnataka honours her with an annual Veera Rani Abbakka Utsava and a coast guard vessel bears her name.