Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam paid tributes to 18th century freedom fighter Dheeran Chinnamalai on Tuesday at different ceremonies in Chennai.
The CM and the deputy CM joined other ministers in offering floral tributes to the legendary warrior from the Kongu Nadu region of the state who took up arms against the East India Company’s expansion plans.
Palaniswami and Panneerselvam also garlanded Chinnamalai’s statue located in Anna Salai area of the city to mark the freedom fighter’s 262nd birth anniversary.
Channamalai’s memory is celebrated across Tamil Nadu as a great warrior who tried to ensure the freedom of Kongu Nadu – the modern day western Tamil Nadu and the ancient seat of the Chera dynasty kings.
Born as Theerthagiri on 17 April 1756, Chinnamalai was a Polygar (a kind of feudal governor) of the region when the Polygar Wars broke out between the local rulers and British East India company forces in 1799.
Chinnamalai achieved initial successes against the British securing victories in 1801, 1802 and 1804 in three different places by deploying guerrilla tactics.
He was eventually betrayed by his cook into the hands of the British, who then hanged him on 31 July 1805.
Chinnamalai is remembered in Tamil Nadu for creating an alliance of different feudal rulers and the Marathas against the East India Company.
The state has many memorials to Chinnamalai. In August 2005, the then Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications Dayanidhi Maran released a commemorative stamp on Dheeran Chinnamalai at a function in Chennai.