As he played a very important role in Indian Freedom, his memorial statue was built in the village of Sangolli, Belagavi.

At some point in his life, he enlisted in the military of the Kingdom of Kittur, rising to the position of a senior commander.

[3] Incensed by the East India Company's confiscation of the majority of his lands (as punishment for participating in the 1824 rebellion) and heavy taxation of the remainder, Rayanna continued to oppose British domination in the region, planning to install Shivalingappa, the son of Chennamma, as the new ruler of Kittur.

Lacking the resources to raise a regular army, he recruited men from among the local peasantry, who were similarly incensed by the EIC, and started an insurgency against the British in 1829.

[5] On 26 January 1831, at the age of thirty-three, he was executed by hanging by the British authorities from a banyan tree near the village of Nandagad.

[9] A life size bronze statue of Sangolli Rayanna, riding a horse with open Sword in right hand, was installed near the City Railway station of Bengaluru.