Onake Obavva is a very important person for the people of Karnataka. She is an exemplar of courage and loyalty. Obavva is the lady who was responsible for the defeat of an attack on the fortress of Chitradurga in the 1770s. 11^th November is celebrated in Karnataka as “Obavva Jayanti”. This is an event initiated by the Government of Karnataka, which shows the importance she holds to the Kannada speaking populace. Obavva is also revered through representations in pop culture.

Obavva is the name of the lady. Onake is used as a title. An onake is a large pestle (from mortar and pestle). The pronunciation of the word could sound as “Vonake”. Obavva wielded the pestle or the onake as a weapon to great effect during Hyder Ali’s attack on the fortress of Chitradurga. Due to her act of heroism, “Onake” is used as an honorific for Obavva – thus, “Onake Obavva”.

The onake is a pestle that comes in many shapes and sizes. The most popular version is made of wood. It is a staff about 4 feet in length. One or both ends of the staff are reinforced with a collar of metal. The diameter of the staff is about 2 inches. Popular depiction of Obavva shows her wielding a staff that seems to adhere to these dimensions.

Seen above are 2 Onake (pestles made of wood). The longer one is 52.5 inches long, with a diameter of 2 inches. The shorter one is 26 inches long with a diameter of 2 inches.

Neither the length nor the diameter though, are standardized. The length varies more than the diameter. Smaller onake exist. The length could be as low as 2 feet. Pestles made entirely of metal exist as well. These tend to be on the shorter side, 2 feet or lower, to keep the weight manageable. But the diameter remains about 2 inches.

Seen above is a “haare” or “paare” or “musal”, a pestle made of metal. The example seen above is 18 inches long. The broad end is 2 inches in diameter and the width tapers down to 1 inch at the narrow end. This haare weighs 3.7 kg.

The pestles made of metal also taper downwards from a maximum diameter. They taper down to a narrow point, almost resembling a large spike, to enable easier handling and to keep the weight down. The metal ones are called “Haare” in Kannada. In Tamil, I have heard them called “Paare”. In Hindi, it is referred to as a “Musal”. The onake itself in Tamil is called “Ulakkal”.

Top and side view of the “spike” end of the “haare”

The pestle, be it an onake, short or long, or a haare, is used for grinding. In the past, the onake was used to make flour out of various grains like wheat, rice and the various millets. The grinding was done by teams of people, mostly women. The metal haare was used, as far as I know, to grind down or crack harder objects like ginger or to powder jaggery. This was used by individuals for quick work in the kitchen. Both of these were still used quite often in India until the early 1990s, after which their use has diminished with greater electrification in all parts of India.

Hyder Ali, the then rule of Mysore, attacked Chitradurga twice in the 1770s. He captured the fortress in 1779. But the first attack was defeated. Obavva is credited with having played a major role in this defeat. Hyder Ali’s army could not breach the fortress. There was a narrow and secret passage into the fortress. A single individual could crawl through this hole in a prone position to enter the fortress. This was discovered by the invading army.

A sculpture depicting Onake Obavva destroying enemies entering through the secret passage. This is the image of a statue honouring Obavva, present at the “Veera Vanite Onake Obavva” Circle in Chitradurga. Wikipedia mentions that this statue was made by the sculptor Ashok Gudigar. Image credit – The Kannada newspaper, “Prajaa Vaani” (from the link, https://www.prajavani.net/district/chitradurga/onake-obavva-life-story-and-related-tiot-he-chitradurga-2447190)

Obavva’s husband was a sentry on the fortress wall. He was once back home during a break, having lunch. Obavva is supposed to stepped out at this time over some chores. She spotted enemy troops entering through the secret passageway. Since there was no time to raise the alarm, she equipped herself with an onake and fought the soldiers. She is supposed to have successfully killed many enemy troops.

These images show the secret crawl space, “Obavvana Kindi”, and how one needs to be prone to crawl through. These are images from over 20 years ago. The place is now much better maintained.

This action of Obavva’s bought time for the alarm to eventually be raised. The defenders beat back the attackers successfully. But the lady herself lost her life during the fight, either due to exhaustion or at the hands of an enemy. This act of gallantry is what has immortalized her in Karnataka. The passageway that she defended is called “Obavvana Kindi”, which translates to “Obavva’s passage”. It exists to this day and is a major tourist attraction.

A few images of the walls of the Chitradurga Fort

The fortress of Chitradurga still stands strong and is a popular tourist destination. The most memorable depiction of Obavva for the people of Karnataka is by the popular yesteryear actress Jayanthi. She played the role of Obavva in a song in the 1972 movie “Naagarahaavu” (translates to Cobra). A link to this song is seen below.

In the Bujinkan system of martial arts, we practice a weapon called the “Jo”. This is a wooden staff. The jo is usually 4 feet in length, though this is not a mandated length. A rule of thumb is that a jo is a staff that comes up to the armpit of the wielder. So, the taller a person, the longer her or his jo would be.

Seen above is a Jo used for training. it is made of wood (mostly Teak). It is 52 inches long, with a diameter of 1.6 inches and a weight of 1.7 kg.

The diameter of a jo is about 1 inch or a bit more. But if the wood used is light, it could be 2 inches. But during training, to learn control of the staff, practitioners could use a heavier weapon, which tends to be 2 inches in diameter. A jo with a diameter of 3 inches or more would be called an “Ōjo”, which translates to “big jo”.

Shihan Nandita is seen wielding an Ōjo in the above image. The Ōjo seen in the picture is remarkably similar in dimensions to an Onake. This Ōjo is 51 inches long, 2.5 inches in diameter and 2.4 kg in weight, which is pretty much a replica of the long Onake seen in the first image in this article.

The jo is supposed to mimic the dimensions of a walking stick used historically in Japan. Later, as western influence spread in Japan, the length of a walking stick reduced, with the staff now coming only up to the waist of an individual, as against the armpit that was the previous benchmark. So, the walking stick in the late 19^th century and after was about 3 feet in length. This staff is called a “hanbo”, which translates to “half a bo”. A bo is a staff that measures about 6 feet in length.

Seen above are Bo and Hanbo used for training. The Bo is made of wood, while the Hanbo is a padded specimen. The Bo is 6 feet long while the Hanbo is a little over 3 feet.

If the dimensions of a jo are considered to be about 4 feet in length and around 2 inches in diameter, it is very similar to an onake. The difference would be that there is no metal sleeve on either end of a jo. Considering the similarity in dimensions, fighting with a jo could be considered a rough equivalent to fighting with an onake!

Fighting with a jo is called “Jojutsu”, translated as “the art of the jo”. Of course, I am not claiming that Obavva used jojutsu! I am merely stating that the onake could be a devastating weapon, simply because a jo can be a great weapon, as anyone who has trained with a jo would attest.

This video is neither purely a demonstration nor an actual sparring session. It is just a representation of moving with a jo.

The jo, in the Bujinkan system of martial arts is used more for striking than for grappling or controlling. The latter is more specific to the use of the hanbo. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about this and both weapons can be devastating with both strikes and in controlling opponents.

Another representation of using a jo in combat.

Obavva would most likely have been physically capable of performing the heroic deeds ascribed to her. She would have been involved in a lot of physical activity. This would include moving around a lot to fetch water, like drawing water from wells, carrying vessels filled with water, preparing the raw materials for food, which included grinding to make flour. So, she would be fit and possess great balance due to her use of her core in daily chores. And she would be proficient in the use of the onake, even if not as a weapon.

So, Obavva could have improvised, to use the onake as a fighting staff instead of just as a grinding tool. But there is no description that I am aware of that gives us details of how the onake was used as a weapon or how Obavva wielded it as a weapon. This aspect has always required imagination in any depiction of the heroic actions of Obavva.

This video shows the flow of movement that can be achieved with a jo, while the previous two show the painful strikes it can deliver.

Therefore, even though I suggest that the onake could be wielded as a jo and be used for fighting, this is not something I am claiming happened. I am only attempting to demonstrate the use of the jo and indicate that a onake could indeed be used as a weapon to devastating effect. To this end, I am sharing video clips of the use of the jo, dispersed across this article. I was fortunate in being able to get women to demonstrate the jo, hopefully reminiscent of Obavva using the onake.

This video is a representation of moving with an Ōjo. It perhaps comes close to showing a possible use of the Onake as a weapon.

Before concluding I need to add a few more points about the use of the staff and the pestle in its avatar as the haare. The staff is the weapon associated with Lord Yama, the God of Justice. He is sometimes considered the God of Death. This could be because he decides the fate of souls after their death. He is also a Dikhpaalaka, a guardian of one of the 10 directions. Yama is the Guardian of the South.

The staff, in its version as the weapon of Lord Yama is called the “Danda”. “Danda” is also the word used for the “staff” in some Indian languages. Interestingly, the word in Kannada and some other Indian languages for “punishment” or “fine” is also, “danda”. Here the word “fine” is used an in, “a fine imposed for an infraction of the law”. So, the word for the weapon of the God of Justice is the same as the word for punishment, or consequence of a mistake.

I had posted a video where I had demonstrated the use of the weapons associated with the Guardians of the 10 directions. In that video, I had demonstrated the use of staffs of varying lengths. I am sharing the same here again. Do watch between the marks 4:21 and 6:09 to see the potential uses of the hanbo and the bo.

Towards the end of the Mahabharata is the Mausala Parva. The word “mausala” is derived from the word “musal” mentioned earlier. It is the word in Hindi for the “haare” or the pestle made of metal, likely iron. This parva is the part where the destruction of the Vrishni clan of the Yadavas is detailed. The Vrishnis are the clan of the Yadavas who ruled from Dwaraka, and included Lord Krishna, his elder brother Balarama and their families.

Lord Krishna wielding a pestle (musal) made of metal. Image credit – “The Mahabharata 42 – The Celestial Reunion”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.

The Vrishnis are too powerful to be defeated or destroyed by any other kingdom. So, they need to destroy themselves on account of a curse laid by Gandhari, the mother of the Kauravas, the losing side in the Mahabharata War. So, some 36 years after the great war, the Vrishnis get into a drunken brawl and kill each other. The weapon they use to kill each other is a musal (or musala), which is nothing but a metal pestle.

The Vrishnis killing each other using pestles (musal) made of metal. Image credit – “The Mahabharata 42 – The Celestial Reunion”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.

One popular depiction of the metal pestle is from the Amar Chitra Katha rendition of the Mahabharata. The physical dimensions of the musala shown in this version is fairly similar to the haare used in many Indian homes, used regularly until a few decades ago.

Acknowledgements –

• The images of the 2 Onake were provided by my friend Babu Nanjappa. I thank him and his family for preserving a bit of our history and culture apart from helping with images of Onake that have seen actual use in the past!
• I have to thank Shihan Nandita Abreo Subramanian and Shihan Priyadarshini Mahalinga Shetty for the demonstration of Jojutsu!
• Vijay Srinivas deserves a load of thanks for helping film the demonstration of Jojutsu.
• Lastly, I thank my teacher Daishihan Shiva Subramanian for creating this wonderful dojo space where we could capture the demonstrations embedded above.