Knowing about Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy as the first-ever patriot who revolted against the mighty British rule and was executed in a brutal manner in 1847 would send cold shivers down the spine of everyone reading the story of the revolutionary, the ‘Renaati Veerudu’.
The British wanted to create terror among the patriots and thus decided to make ‘Narasimha Reddy’s execution as a sample. After hanging him publicly, they kept his head hung to the Fort’s Doorstep for 30 years. Coo cruel to imagine, even! To their dismay, the example they set has actually inspired the future revolts.
Let’s look into the details of his life that are all set to play on the big screen, very soon.
* Even before the Revolt of 1857 (Sepoy Mutiny) that was inked in the Indian’s History of Independence as the first war of Independence, Narasimha Reddy’s martyrdom has inspired hundreds of patriots in the Southern region.
*He was the son of Seethamma and Mallareddy of Uyyalawada village. Narasimha Reddy inherited the responsibility of collecting the tax from his grandfather in the Allagadda constituency. By then, Hyderabad Nizam rulers gave away Rayalaseema districts to British as adoption zones.
* Narasimha Reddy led a coup against the British government in 1842 in Rayalaseema districts leaving them trembling as the patriot’s army smashed their treasury. Immediately British government announced 10,000 dinars on his head.
* Finally, after nearly 5 years, they could capture him at Jagannathaswamy temple in Giddalur of present Prakasham district. The British branded him as a notorious dacoit looting away their treasury.
* They took him to the banks of Jurreru river near Kovelakuntla and hanged him to death. It’s unimaginable that the British government cruelty reached peaks when it decided to hand the head of the martyr to the Fort’s doorstep for 30 years till 1877. How barbaric and inhuman!
* We know very little about the first freedom fighter, the unsung hero from South. Things have changed, now. People in the Telugu States and the governments are trying to reward the sacrifice of the first revolutionary freedom fighter who belongs to our place.
Hail! Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy, the warrior patriot whose life is going to see the light of the day on 2nd October as ‘Sye Raa’ with megastar Chiranjeevi playing the fierce warrior who shook the British government for the first time and instilled fear in it, fear of falling apart. Hail to the bravest heart of those times!
