Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy: Rayalaseema’s 1846 Uprising

When the British stopped paying his family’s pension in 1846, Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy did not petition for it back. He raided a British treasury instead, and roughly 5,000 peasants across Kurnool district rose up alongside him.

Must Know

• Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy (24 November 1806 – 22 February 1847) was born in Rupanagudi village, in present-day Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh.
• His family were Palegars (local chieftains) who lost their traditional landholding rights when the British introduced the ryotwari revenue system in the region.
• In 1846, the British assumed the land rights of several deceased villagers’ families in his area, cutting his own family’s income further.
• In June 1846, he raided the British treasury at Koilakuntla with his commander, Vadde Obanna. Around 5,000 peasants across Kurnool district joined the revolt.
• In October 1846, British forces defeated his rebels near the Nallamala Hills. He was captured after 40-50 of his men were killed and 90 taken prisoner.
• He was tried, convicted, and publicly executed at Koilakuntla on 22 February 1847.

Good to Know

• The uprising’s underlying grievance was the ryotwari system itself, which replaced traditional chieftain-held land with direct company-peasant revenue arrangements. See ModHist0079 — British Land Revenue Systems.
• After his execution, his severed head was displayed on the Koilakuntla fort wall as a deterrent to further revolt, remaining there until 1877.
• His revolt predates the Revolt of 1857 by about a decade, and is considered one of the earliest post-1800 armed rebellions against British rule in South India.
• On 25 March 2021, Kurnool Airport was renamed in his honour.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy’s 1846 uprising in Kurnool district was most directly triggered by which British policy?

A new salt tax imposed across the Madras Presidency

The ryotwari land revenue system, which stripped traditional chieftains of their landholding rights

The forced cultivation of indigo on ancestral land

A ban on traditional Rayalaseema festivals

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Great to Know

• His grievance began as a personal, financial one: a cut pension and a family losing its inherited land rights. It escalated into a genuine mass uprising involving thousands, not a lone act of protest.
• Displaying his head for three decades reveals how seriously the British treated the threat of a repeat rebellion in the region. A one-time punishment wasn’t considered deterrent enough on its own.
• Renaming an international airport after him nearly two centuries later shows how regional memory can outlast the official record. Colonial authorities had once branded him a criminal, not a freedom fighter.