Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

The father of Narasimha Reddy was related to the Polygar (jagirdarr) family of Uyyalawada in Koilkuntla taluk who had married two daughters of the Polygar of Nossam. He had three sons, of whom Narasimha was the youngest.[1] His first wife was Siddamma.

The EIC's introduction to the Madras Presidency of the 1803 Permanent Settlement, which had first been enacted in Bengal Presidency ten years previously, replaced the agrarian socio-economic status quo with a more egalitarian arrangement where anyone could cultivate provided that they paid a fixed sum to the EIC for the privilege of doing so.[1]

The Polygars and other higher-status people who preferred the old agrarian system "represented the decadent social order", were in many cases "upstarts" and "were also the heirs of a social system in which various orders of Hindu society were integrated through ages". These people were dispossessed of their lands, which were then redistributed, but the primary purpose of the changes was to increase production rather than to restructure the social order. In some cases, it coincided with a punishment because among the dispossessed were those who had recently been involved in fighting the EIC in the Polygar Wars. Some received pensions in lieu of the lost lands but at inconsistent rates.[1]

The changes, which included the introduction of the ryotwari system and other attempts to maximise revenue, deprived village headmen and other higher-status people of their role as revenue collectors and position as landholders, while also impacting on lower-status cultivators by depleting their crops and leaving them impoverished. The population came to the view that the British were taking their wealth and that those who were dependent on the traditional system no longer had a means of making a living. As the old order collapsed into disarray, the once-authoritative Polygars, including Narasimha Reddy, became the focus of attention from sufferers, whose pleas fell on deaf British ears. The Polygars saw a chance to mobilize peasant opposition both for genuine social reasons.[1]

Narasimha Reddy's own objections too was based on their outcomes. Compared to the Polygar of Nossam, the pension awarded to his family upon their dispossession was paltry and the authorities refused to increase it by redistributing some of the Nossam monies when that latter family became extinct in 1821. At the same time, some of his relatives were facing proposals for further reductions in their land rights, including by a reform of the village policing system.

Things came to a head in 1846 when the British authorities assumed land rights previously held by various people who had died in the villages of Goodladurty, Koilkuntla and Nossum. Encouraged by the discontent of others, Reddy became the figurehead for an uprising.[1]

An armed group, initially comprising those dispossessed of inam lands around Koilakuntla, was led by Reddy's Right-hand man Vadde Obanna in July 1846. The Acting Collector for the area Lord Cochrane, believed that Reddy had material support from fellow pensioners in Hyderabad and Kurnool, whose land rights had also been appropriated. The group soon attracted support from the peasantry and was reported by British authorities to have rampaged in Koilkuntla, taking back the looted treasury there and evading the police before killing several officers at Mittapally. They also plundered Rudravaram before moving to an area near to Almore, pursued by the British military forces who then surrounded them.[1]

A battle between Obanna's 5000-strong band and a much smaller British contingent then took place, with around 200 of the freedom fighters being killed and others captured before they were able to break out in the direction of Kotakota, Giddalur where Reddy's family were situated. Having collected his family, he and the rest of the freedom fighters moved into the Nallamala Hills. The British offered incentives for information regarding the freedom fighters, who were again surrounded amidst reports that unrest was now growing in other villages of the area. In a further skirmish between the freedom fighters and the British, who had sent for reinforcements, 40–50 freedom fighters were killed and 90 were captured, including Reddy. Although there was no evidence of Obanna's capture, he most possibly was also a captive along with his leader.[1]

Warrants were issued for the arrest of nearly 1,000 of the freedom fighters, of which 412 were released without charge. A further 273 were bailed and 112 were convicted. Reddy, too, was convicted and in his case received the death penalty. On 22 February 1847, he was executed in Koilkuntla in front of a crowd of over 2000 people.[1]

British kept his head on the fort wall in public view until 1877. The East India Company reported in their district manual of 1886 that

Since 1839 nothing of political importance has occurred, unless we mention the disturbance in 1847 caused by Narasimha Reddy, a pensioned Poligar of Uyyalavada in Koilkuntla Taluk, then part of Cuddapah district. He was in receipt of a pension of ₹11 a month. As a grandson of Jayaram Reddy, the last powerful Zamindar of Nossam, he was sorely disappointed when the Government refused to pay him any portion of the lapsed pension of that family. Just before this time, the question of resuming Kattubadi Inams has been brought under the consideration of Government, which made the Kattubadis discontented. Narasimha Reddy collected these men and attacked the Koilkuntla treasury. He moved from place to place and sheltered himself in thepi hill forts of the Erramalas and Nallamalas, and though pursued by troops from Cuddapah and Kurnool, he continued to commit his ravages in Koilkuntla and Cumbum. At Giddalur he gave battle to Lieutenant Watson and killed the Tahsildar of Cumbum. He then escaped into the Nallamalas, and after roving about the hills for several months was caught near Perusomala on a hill in Koilkuntla taluk and hanged. His head kept hung in the fort on the gibbet till 1877 when the scaffold falling into decay.[2]

The Renati Chandrula Smaraka Samithi was formed to preserve the memory of Reddy and the philanthropist Budda Vengal Reddy, both of whom were dead in Uyyalawada village. The committee published a book in both Telugu and English, titled Renati Surya Chandrulu (The Sun and Moon of Renadu), in 2015. It contains excerpts from research papers by historians.

A movie based on Narasimha Reddy's inspiring life, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy directed by Surender Reddy and starring Chiranjeevi was released in the Telugu film industry on 2 October 2019.[3] He was referred as a dacoit by British as he was helping people

• Dirks, Nicholas B. (1992). "From Little King to Landlord: Colonial Discourse and Colonial Rule". In Dirks, Nicholas B. (ed.). Colonialism and Culture. University of Michigan Press. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-0-47206-434-2.