Remembering a Tulu patriot

One name-Attavar Yellappa- of Mangalore, is sufficient to electrify the feelings and sentiments of people of Tulunadu in particular and Karnataka in general for he sacrificed his everything including his own life and that of his wife for the sake of the convictions he believed in.

He was a Tuluva and a proud son of Tulunadu. Undoubtedly one can say that Yellappa is to Tulunadu what Subhaschandra Bose is to Banga Bhoomi.

Yellappa was last heard of when he was just 33, in the year 1943 while fighting the British in the jungles of Myanmar (Burma) in the midst of second World War. Come this May 4, the great patriot would be hundred had he lived to see his motherland basking in the light of freedom for what he sacrificed his life. Yellappa was born on May 4, 1912 at Attavar and today every Mangaloreans remember him with pride, honour and with damp eyes for the tragic and mysterious end this hero met. Barrister Yellappa, a close aide of Nethaji Subhashchandra Bose who waged an armed struggle under the banner of Azad Hind Fouz (Indian National Army) against the British rule, was a member of the war cabinet of the Azad Hind Provisional Government in exile, of which Nethaji was the Prime Minister. Yellappa was also in the group of eight advisors of the Azad HindGovernment led by Nethaji. Ras Bihari Bose who earlier led the freedom struggle through Indian Independence League in Singapore, was the supreme advisor.
 Born as the eldest son of farmer Attavar Balanna and Venkamma couple, Yellappa had his early education at the St Milagres School at Hampanakatta and his intermediate classes at the then Government College, Mangalore, which is now titled University College. He obtained his BA (Honours) degree with distinction from St Aloysious College Mangalore.

Barrister studies

There is a story behind Yellappa’s journey to London to study Bar-at-Law too. It is said that when he was in Madras (pursuing higher education and also seeking employment), he had met with an accident involving the jeep of a British officer. The kind officer on seeing the severe injuries sustained by the youth sanctioned a huge sum as relief. Yellappa after his recovery invested the sum in gainful venture and out of the earnings proceeded to London to realise his dream of becoming a barrister. 

17 days of marriage

On his return from London, father Balanna found a suitable bride for his Barrister-son Yellappa. Thus Seethamma entered Yellappa’s life. Their married life lasted only for 17 days and Yellappa left for Singapore to join a legal firm and as fate would have it, the life of the revolutionary took quite unexpected turn once he came under the orbit of the fight against the British rule in India under the banner of INA. Yellappa was virtually the leading financier of INA Government in exile and was hailed as the Kubera of Azad Hind Fauz. He was responsible for starting the Azad Hind Bank which even printed the currency notes of the INA Government. Initially the Japanese Government provided financial assistance in the form of loan to INA but the proud INA minister Yellappa after accumulating adequate funds from patriotic Indians and sympathisers went to the extent of repaying the Japanese debts.

However, destiny desired different fates for the proud patriots of the INA with the turn of events revealed later. Although the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the defeat of axis powers including Japan changed the course of the world war, the heroic attack of over half a lakh of INA army on the British forces through the thick jungles of Burma (Mynmar) had certainly sent chills down the spine of the British Government. 

Death of Seethamma

As reports of setback of INA cadres and the announcement of air crash involving Nethaji reached India, Seethamma too was apprehensive over her husband’s chances of survival. Unable to bear the ominous bodings she sets out saying she would go to her parent’s residing in another part of Mangalore. However, that was the last time Yellappa’s family saw Seethamma as the following day her dead body was found floating in a temple pond, leaving several questions.

Sehegal recalls

A letter written by Capt. Lakshmi Sehegal who led the women’s unit of the INA army of Nethaji, to Mr Prabhakara Das, nephew of Yellappa, on the eve of inauguration of Nethaji-Yellappa Memorial Hospital in Thokkottu in 1997, throws sufficient light on the role of Yellappa a bright star in the saga of Indian National Army. She writes: “Yellappa Saheb was a great man. He gave his unflinching loyalty and dedication to Nethaji.

He was the President of Indian Independence League unit of Singapore—-but was no figurehead. He single-handedly collected large sums of money from Nattukotai Chettiars in Malaya and Burma and also Sindhi and Sikh businessmen. He was able to start the Azad Hind Bank in Rangoon.” In her letter, Capt Lakshmi also claims that she was the last person who saw Yellappa Saheb before Nethaji left Burma for Singapore. The letter reads: “Nethaji wanted Yellappa Saheb to accompany him but since he (Yellappa) was in-charge of supplies especially given to INA troops in Burma, he could not leave.

I also stayed back to work in a hospital for incapacitated INA soldiers. We located the hospital in the deep jungle where there was absolutely no military activity.  In spite of that the hospital was bombed heavily. I fortunately escaped but Yellappa Saheb received shrapnel injuries, which we thought were not that serious at the time. We evacuated him and as many of the soldiers as we could by bullock carts and hoped to reach Rangoon. Unfortunately we were short of medicine. The result was that Yellappa Saheb developed tetanus and suffered. The Japanese helped us and when things were falling into place, we were attacked by British and Gurkha forces and were taken as prisoners. They took all of us but left Yellappa Saheb and a Christian boy Muthu in a village. After a couple of days, I heard that another group of Gurkha soldiers on seeing the hut with smoke coming out of the kitchen, presumed that there were Japanese inside and opened fire, which burnt Yellappa Saheb and Muthu alive. We could however never get any written records of the incident.” 

Mystery

Allthough Capt Lakshmi’s letter throws light on the life and times of Yellappa, the end of the great patriot like that of his mentor and idol Nethaji Subhashchandra Bose, is shrouded in mystery. 

There are versions that Nethaji spent his last years as an anonymous Sadhu in an Ashram in Madhya Pradesh. Prabhakara Das, the nephew of Yellappa, claims to have visited the Ashram and confirms that the Ashram bears the testimony to the Sadhu’s intimate knowledge of the life and works of Nethaji as revealed in the scribbling and caricatures left behind there. Das also recalls that when he was 10 or 12, two Sadhus had come to Mangalore along with a group of Nath Panth Sadhus from the North and stayed in their house for couple of days. Das has a strong feeling that they were none other than Bose and Yellappa.

Like Bose

An anecdote revealed by Das speaks volumes of the patriotic spirit of Yellappa.

Impressed by his academic performance, the then Madras Government offered the brilliant youth the post of an Assistant Commissioner without appearing for any competitive examination but the youth refused the offer on the ground that he did not wish to work under a British Collector. No wonder years later he was fired by the spirit of freedom after successfully establishing himself as a barrister. Here too there is a close similarity with the tendency to defy British rule as found in the life of Subhaschandra Bose. 

Bose too had succeeded in the ICS examination but declined to work under the British regime and instead jumped into the fire of freedom movement.  Having voluntarily given up all luxuries of life, Yellappa’s sacrifice for Mother India in a way was complete and conclusive.