Abbaka Chowta belonged Chowta dynasty which ruled over parts of coastal Karnataka also known as Tulu Nadu. The Chowta royal family were the descendants of Digambar Jain Bunt community settled in Karnataka region. They followed a system of matrilineal inheritance also known as Aliya Santana. The capital of this kingdom was Puttige. The port town Ullal severed as second capital. From this place the story of this brave queen, Abhaya Rani, Abbaka Chowta's story starts. She was crowned as the queen by her uncle Tirumala Raya. He had trained her in the different aspects of warfare and military tactics. He formed a marital alliance for Abbakka with Lakshmappa Arasa Bangaraja II, The king of Banga principality in Mangalore. But their marriage was short-lived. The reason being, he tried to convince her not to defy the Portuguese and also marry their daughter to his nephew to strengthen the alliance. But She would never agree to these terms, as she would not bow down to the Portuguese and wanted her daughter to marry a worthy husband. When Lakshmappa tried to kidnap his own daughter, she rescued her and married her to a noble prince. Enraged by this, He joined the Portuguese.

By this Portuguese had captured Mangalore and their next capital was Ullal. With an eye on Ullal's trade, they had tried to extract tributes and taxes from Rani Abbakka. She was excellent and tolerant leader. Her court consisted of people ranging from different religion, region and caste. This also helped to strengthen her position in the region. Angered by this demand, she refused to agree to this demand. Feeling insulted by her refusal, they started attacking Ullal repeatedly. First war took place in 1556, which ended in an uneasy truce. Then two years later, in1558, they attacked with larger force and managed to ransack Ullal to some extent. But Rani's diplomatic alliance with Arab Moors and Zamorin of Kerala and masterful tactics, she managed to push them back. In the next battle, Portuguese sent their army under General Joao Peixoto attacked Ullal and managed to capture the royal palace but Rani Abbakka escaped before they could reach her. Later in the dead of night, she attacked them in palace along with 200 of her loyal soldiers. She killed the general along with 70 of his soldiers. Scared by this attack, the rest of soldiers ran away. In this way, she managed to keep the Portuguese at bay for 40 years. In 1581, 3000 Portuguese troops supported by battleships attacked Ullal during dawn time. Rani Abbakka was caught off guard as she was returning from her family temple, but she quickly mounted her horse and lead her troops against Portuguese.

To motivate her soldiers, she gave a battle cry, which went like this - "Save the motherland. Fight them on land and the sea. Fight them on the streets and the beaches. Push them back to the waters."

Even though she lost the battle and was captured, she didn't giveup. Her story remains hidden under theweight of other stories, but she clearly remembered by the citizens of Ullal,and her state, Karnataka in folk stories and various monuments and articlesnamed in her memory.