Abbakka, queen of Ullal, a small principality (in what is now South Karnataka), had made a pledge to her dying mother that she would avenge her defeat and humiliation at the hands of the Portuguese. Defying her over-cautious husband, the king of Bangadi and the under-confident nobles in her court, Rani Abbakka rallied her army to challenge the might of the Portuguese and wrest freedom for Ullal and later even for Mangalore.