Ranji Cennabhairi Devi

Summary

Cennabhairidevī also called Rāñji Cenna bhairarā devī was a queen from the sixteenth century who held the title mahāmaṇḍaleśvara; She ruled over several towns including Hāḍuvalli Sangitapura Bhatkala and Honnāvara; Inscriptions show that she managed the kingdom after the death of her husband and was recognised for both military and administrative skills; She belonged to the Vira Ballaḍēva lineage and was related to rulers of the Hoysala and Vijayanagara dynasties; Early in her reign the Portuguese captain of Goa besieged her capital Bhatkala but she organised defence and drove them away; Cennabhairidevī maintained good relations with powerful neighbours but retained autonomy; She was an ardent Jain and patronised construction of basadis; She extended hospitality to monks and promoted rituals; Under her rule the kingdom prospered through trade; foreign accounts refer to her port as a centre of pepper export; Her charitable works included donations of oil mills and land to temples and distribution of medicine to the sick; The article notes that she also encouraged scholarship and invited poets and philosophers to her court; After her rule the kingdom declined and the ruined temples stand as mute witnesses to its past glory; Hampana concludes that Cennabhairidevī remains one of the few recorded woman sovereigns of sixteenth century Karnataka