SANGOLLIRAYANNA AND THE EMERGENCE OF VERNACULAR NATIONALISM IN COLONIAL SOUTH INDIA: A HISTORICAL, ARCHIVAL, AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This exhaustive study investigates the life of SangolliRayanna (1798-1830) and his anti-colonial resistance through historical analysis, subaltern studies, postcolonial theory, nationalist studies and empirical fieldwork. This essay argues that the Kittur movement under Rani Chennamma and the guerrilla warfare of SangolliRayanna were the first sustained anti-colonial movements in South India. The mainstream Indian nationalist history has largely foregrounded the Revolt of 1857 as an origin story of organised opposition to British colonial rule. The research reinterprets the political thought, military strategy, leadership qualities and cultural heritage of Rayanna using British administrative records, Kannada historical texts, folk songs, historical plays, oral histories and field investigations in fourteen districts of Karnataka. The findings point to the fact that Rayanna was able to rally people from different castes and religions, organise guerrilla warriors, and develop a vernacular nationalism based on communal sovereignty, social fairness and anti-colonialism. The research argues that the oral traditions preserved a form of nationalist consciousness absent in the colonial documents. This study extends Benedict Anderson’s notion of imagined communities by combining the oral and performative traditions to better comprehend subaltern nationalism. SangolliRayanna is an important figure in India’s anti-colonial movement and needs more recognition in national and international history narratives.