Book Description

The year is 1834. The place is Kodagu. The event is an invasion. An invasion by British East India Company whose men are making inroads into the little principality from four directions. The book begins with the reign of the last Raja of Kodagu. His self-preserving autocratic deeds leads up to circumstances which bring him into conflict with the British East India Company who are on their rise in South Asia. The author takes you on a journey through the pages of the history of Coorg. The modernizing times under the British as well as the participation of the Coorgs in the Freedom struggle, be it in the peasant rebellion or in the Gandhian movement, is also described thereafter, right until the time India gains its freedom, Coorg merges with the larger Mysore province which becomes Karnataka and the present-day existence of the Kodagu district within the Karnataka State of South India. How did the small numbered civilian army of Kodagu (comprising of farmers who carried arms and with courage) keep the larger well-trained and equipped regular army of the British East India Company at bay in 1834? How did the British help build Kodagu's economy? How were Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vinoba Bhave connected to Kodagu? Who were Pandyanda I. Belliappa (also called 'Kodagu's Gandhi'), Guddemane Appaiah Gowda, Cheppudira M. Poonacha and the others? What were Kodagu's contributions to India and to Karnataka? What was the outcome of the numerous elections fought in Kodagu since Independence? What were the origins of the Jamma Bane issue, regarding the Kodagu farms, and why does it continue? How did Kodagu come to be called by the now well-known brand name Coorg? For solutions to these and more similar questions, read 'Long Ago in Coorg'.