BELGAUM: A portrait which is said to be of Kittur Rani Channamma, who waged a battle against the British in 1824, has become the talking point in the district.
The black and white portrait has been found by Special Tahsildar of Kittur Y R Patil. According to Patil, he found the portrait in the Archeological Department museum at Kittur.
Assistant Curator of the museum Raghavendra said the portrait was originally recovered from the Model Kannada School of Kallur village in Dharwad taluk. Kallur is at a distance of 24 km from Kittur and was part of Kittur province when Channamma was ruling it.
According to Patil, the portrait was drawn on a paper on April 1, 1879.
Former Vice President of Belgaum Zilla Panchayat Parmeshwarappa Dandinavar, who hails from Kallur, said the portrait was kept in the school.
Village elders are saying that it is the portrait of Channamma who was defeated in the war by British and was imprisoned at Bailhongal jail. The ornaments worn by the woman in the portrait are said to be 200 years old and the sari is also said to be made of heavy silk, Dandinavar said. Seer Rajayogindra Madival Mahaswami said the portrait may be of Rani Channamma. But there should be a thorough research on the portrait, he added.
Sri Jayamrityunjaya Maha Swami of Kudalasangama said the portrait may be 100 years old. “Famous artist V T Kale told us so. The paper used by the artist is also rough,” he added.
Retired Commissioner of Archeological Department Venkatesh Machaknur said that he had received the image of the portrait by email and MMS. He said he has sent the image to several historians, but he has not yet received a response from any one so far.
Subhash Vernekar, an 80-year-old jeweller, said the ornaments worn by the woman in the portrait belong to the Peshwa era.
Incidentally, Kittur was under the control of the Peshwas of Pune. Interestingly, the name of the artist is not written on the portrait. Meanwhile, the people of Kittur have demanded that the portrait be announced as that of Channamma.