The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

The First Revolts - Part I

India's struggle for freedom has been a long-drawn-out battle. Though it actually began in the second half of the 19th century, isolated attempts were made in various parts of the country to bring the British rule in India to an end about a century earlier. The real power in northern India passed into the hands of the British in 1757. The loss of independence provided the motive force for the struggle for freedom and Indians in different parts of the country began their efforts to throw off the yoke of the alien rulers. It took over 100 years for the struggle to gain full momentum. Very seldom, however, during this period (1757-1857) was the country free from either civil or military disturbances and there was plenty of opposition, often from very substantial sections of the common people.

Surprisingly enough, the opposition to foreign rule in early years came more from the peasants, labourers and the weaker sections of the society than from the educated bourgeois classes. Unscrupulous defiance of moral principle and the reckless exploitation of the masses that characterised the early activities of the traders made the rule of the East India Company hateful to the people. The proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries were greatly resented all around. The deliberate destruction of Indian manufacturer and handicrafts aggravated agrarian misery and economic discontent. All these factors led to local resistance in different parts of this vast country which was basically united in its opposition to the British rule.

The uprisings of the Chuars in 1799 in the districts of Manbum, Bankura and Midnapore, which took an alarming turn, were masterminded by the Rani of Midnapore. The Rani was taken prisoner on April 6, 1799 which only made the Chuars more furious. Equally important in the annals of India's struggle for freedom is the rebellion of the Santhals (1855) occupying Rajmahal Hills against the British Government who in league with the mahajans or moneylenders oppressed the industrious people, there being even cases of molestation of women. Under the leadership of two brothers, Sidhu and Kanhu, 10,000 Santhals met in June 1855 and declared their intention to take possession of the country and set up a government of their own. In spite of the ruthless measures of the British Government to suppress them, the Santhals showed no signs of submission till February 1856, when their leaders were arrested and most inhuman barbarities were practiced on the Santhals after they were defeated.

The first attempt of an open revolt against the British was perhaps the lightning attacks by groups of sannyasis. In the latter half of the 18th century, such attacks took place at Dacca, Coochbehar, Saran, Dinajpur, Rajsahi, Rangpur, and even as early as 1773, Hastings acknowledged their capabilities. In 1768, there was a serious clash between sannyasis and British troops in Saran, Bihar. The sannyasis inflicted serious casualties, killing Capt. Tomes in Rangpur and Capt. Edwards in Dinajpur (vide Dr. Jadugopal Mukhopadhyaya: Viplabi Jibaner Smriti, a Bengali publication). The insurgent sannyasis were well-versed in guerilla warfare. The Sepoy mutiny of 1857 had a number of sadhus and gurus as motivators too. Spiritual backing of armed conflict was always present in the Indian tradition. Shivaji had as his inspiration the great Yogi Ramdas.

The Sikh militias were raised in the bosom of spiritual power. No wonder that Hem Chandra Kanungo, whom Sri Aurobindo initiated into revolutionary activities and was sent for training to Europe, was told by Mironow, the Russian revolutionary in Paris: 'We learnt revolutionary methods from the Chinese, who claim they got them from India. How is it, then, that you now come to us for light?'

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Boycott

Another form of resistance was through boycott of British trade, started in 1874-1876 and again in 1878. Boycott was initiated to revive indigenous industries. It was also powerfully voiced during the Anti-Ilbert agitation and imprisonment of Surendra Nath Banerjee. It was actually practiced a little in 1891 during protest against the Consent Bill. Perhaps the real originator of the idea of boycott of British goods was an Arya Samaj activist from North West India, Tahal Ram Ganga Ram who visited Calcutta during February-March1905 and inflamed the youth to boycott British goods. This was followed by successive calls for boycott of British goods through Krishna Kumar Mitra's weekly paper, Sanjivani on 13 July 1905 and an article in Amrita Bazar Patrika on 17 July 1905 by an unknown correspondent 'G' (probably Sri Aurobindo or his brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh). To cap it all, it was adopted at the Calcutta Town Hall meeting on 7 August 1905 amidst the tempestuous rendering of the song Bandemataram. This was a special meeting summoned to protest against the partition of Bengal and pass resolutions on Swadeshi and Boycott, where thousands of students of all communities marched from College Square to the venue. The seeds were thus sown for the later use of this technique in the Freedom Movement.

We shall see later how Sri Aurobindo worked on the concept of Boycott, enlarged and widened its scope. Still later, Gandhiji used the same technique in a big way for the Freedom Movement from 1920.

These are some instances of the simmering revolt that took place in North India. We will not go into the details of other revolts and disturbances throughout the country but it is apparent that there was a cry to drive out the British almost throughout the first century of the British rule in India.

The First Revolts in South India

 Poligar

In the Vijayanagara empire of southern India, local chieftains called 'palegars' were allowed to rule with limited autonomy by their overlords. They had the power to collect revenue, maintain a small army and impose punishments. They numbered up to 200 during this period. When the Vijayanagara empire weakened after the mid-16th century, the Vijayanagara Nayaks, or governors, became the independent rulers of large tracts of southern India. Of the prominent Nayaks were the Nayaks of Madurai (1549-1736), ruling from Madurai and Tiruchirapalli. The Tanjore Naickers opted for a conventional system of administration, while the other Vijayanagara offshoots, namely the Nayaks of Gingee, and other territories under the Aravidu line of later Vijayanagara kings based in Chandragiri - Vellore Fort, followed the Palayam or Palegallu system of administration.

Puli Thevar or Pooli Devar was a poligar (or palayakarar, a local chieftain) who ruled an area called Nelkatumseval or Avudayapuram, now situated in the Sankarankoil taluk of Tamil Nadu.

He is recognised as one of the earliest opponents of British rule in South India. He was involved in a dispute with the Nawab of Arcot, who was supported by the British. Puli Thevar was known for his astute diplomacy, cunningness and war strategy, though he was much maligned by British historians as a deceitful person who never kept his word. He defeated a battalion of British and Nawab Soldiers on the banks of Thamirabarani.

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Nelkatumseval was the headquarters of Puli Thevar, the first chieftain in Tamil Nadu to resist the British.

The author of the Thirunelveli District Gazetteer, H. R. Pate, observes: 'Nelkatumseval is chiefly memorable as having been the stronghold of the redoubtable Puli Thevar, who figured for many years as the leader of the Marava Confederacy against the troops of the Nawab and the Company. He had a shrewd insight into the political situation of the time and was a veritable thorn against the side of the Nawab's agents.'

Puli Thevar remains one of the illustrious figures in the chequered history of the palayakkars. The vivacity of his character gave him an ascendancy over the western palayakkars, while his determined resistance to the Nawab's overlordship made him a potential enemy of the Wallajahs. He was in fact the principal architect of the coalition of the palayakkars organised against the Nawab. The Nawab acknowledged his victory by presenting him with a gold plate and sword.

The first revolts in the South by local powers were in 1757.

When Mohammed Ali, the Nawab of the Carnatic, supported by the Company, attempted to extend his control over the 'Madura' and 'Tinnevelly' districts, the poligars rebelled. The western poligars, led by Puli Thevar of Nelkatumseval, forged local alliances and then a grand alliance as they revolted against Mohammed Ali. Of necessity he had to seek assistance from the East India Company, and after many battles the revolt was finally put down in 1761 by Yusuf Khan, who had been nominated the Governor of 'Madura' and 'Tinnevelly' in 1758 by the British, despite Nawab Mohammed Ali's objections.

The western confederacy was led by Nelkattumsevval which literally means 'Rice tribute paying place', but after its ruler Puli Thevar's successful attempts at defying Mohammed Ali, the name changed into Nelkattansevval ('place which does not pay rice tribute'). In effect, by 1757 these palayams had declared their independence. Then entered Yusuf Khan alias Marudhanayagam sent by the British to bring the poligars under control and make them pay tribute. Earlier campaigns in 1755 by Mahfuz Khan were unsuccessful in subduing the poligars; partly because of their sticking to each other and partly because British troops had to be withdrawn to raise the French siege of Madras (by Lally). Yusuf Khan quickly intimidated the eastern poligars and moved against Puli Thevar. A series of sieges of Puli Thevar's forts followed and eventually Nelkattansevval fort was reduced by British artillery.

Defeated, Thevar fell prey to the cunningness of the Nawab of Arcot. He was arrested by the British and led in a procession when he wanted to worship at the Sankaran kovil temple. Left alone in the sanctum sanctorum, he sang lyrics praising the female deity. Then there was the sound of handcuffs being broken. When the troops rushed in, all they were able to find were the broken handcuffs and chains. The invincible hero turned invisible into history.

Puli Thevar's descendants are spread all over southern Tamil Nadu. Most of them still live in Nelkattumsevval while the rest of them reside at Veppilangulam (near Vallioor), Kumilambadu, Vellarikai Oorani and Tirunelveli. They meet once every year at Puli Thevar's palace in Nelkattumseval on Siva Rathri day, in the month of December. 1.

The Maruthu Brothers

The Maruthu Pandiyar brothers (Periya Maruthu and Chinna Maruthu) ruled Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu towards the end of the 18th century. They were the first to issue a proclamation of independence from the British rule from Trichy Thiruvarangam Temple, Tamil Nadu on June 10, 1801; 56 years before the Sepoy mutiny which broke out in many parts of north India in 1857.

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Childhood

The Maruthu brothers were the sons of Udayar Servai and Anandayer. Periya Maruthu was born on 15 December 1748 in a small hamlet called Narikkudi near Aruppukkottai in the Ramnad principal state. In 1753 the younger Maruthu Pandiyar was born in Ramnad. Their father Udayar Servai served as a General in the Ramnad state military and he shifted his family to Ramnadu viruthunagar from Narikkudi.

Early Life

The brothers were trained in martial arts at Surankottai which served as a training centre for the Ramnad army. The boomerang is a peculiar weapon to India. Two forms of this weapon are used in India. These are normally made of wood. They are known as valari sticks in Tamil. It is said that the Maruthu brothers were experts in the art of throwing the valari stick and that they used valari in the Poligar wars against the British. They contested in and won many competitions of martial arts and distinguished themselves. The Raja of Ramnad, Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha_Sethupathy issued the title of 'Pandiyas' to honour the brothers.

The Raja of Sivaganga principal state (near Ramnad), Muthu Vaduganadhar came to know of their brave deeds and requested the Ramnad king to assign them to serve the Sivaganga army. They were appointed as generals of the Sivaganga military and the brothers left an indelible impression on the history of Tamil Nadu.

In the year 1772, the English military of the East India Company, under the command of Lt. Col. Bon Jour attacked the state at Kalayar Kovil. During the war, Raja Muthu Vaduganadhar lost his life in the battlefield. But the Maruthu brothers managed to escape along with Rani Velu Nachiar, wife of Raja Muthu Vadughanadhar and arrived at Dindigul which was ruled by Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore, as refugees. Hyder Ali supported them in all respects.

The Nawab of Arcot, the alliance partner of the East India Company, was not able to collect any taxes from the people of Sivaganga state for eight years. He entered into an agreement whereby the rule of Sivaganga was restored to Rani Velu Nachiar after he collected his dues from her. The Maruthu brothers with 12,000 armed men surrounded Sivaganga and plundered the Arcot Nawab's territories. The Nawab on 10 March 1789 appealed to the Madras Council for aid. On 29 April 1789, the British forces attacked Kollangudi. It was defeated by a large body of Maruthu's troops. The Maruthu brothers are famous for tiger fighting - it is said that they could kill a tiger without any arms.

 The Maruthu brothers were not only warriors and noted for bravery, but they were great administrators. Rani Velu Nachiar made a will and paved the way for Maruthu Pandiyar Elder to rule. Maruthu Pandiar younger was made the Dewan of the state. During the period from 1783 to 1801, they worked for the welfare of the people and the Sivaganga Seemai was reported as fertile. They constructed many notable temples like Kalayar Kovil, Sivaganga and many Ooranis and Tanks.

Then came the final war against the British. During this time they were in close association with Veera Pandiya Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi. Kattabomman held frequent consultations with the Maruthus. After the execution of Kattabomman on 17 October 1799 at Kayattar, Chinna Maruthu gave asylum to Kattabomman's brother Oomadurai (mute brother). But the British took this reason to invade and attacked Sivaganga in 1801 with a powerful army. The Maruthu Pandiyars and their allies were quite successful and captured three districts from the British. The British considered it

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such a serious threat to their future in India that they rushed additional troops from Britain to put down the Maruthu Pandiyars' rebellion. These forces surrounded the Maruthu Pandiyars' army at Kalayar Kovil, and the latter scattered. The Maruthu brothers and their top commanders escaped. They regrouped and fought the British and their allies at Viruppatchi, Dindigul and Cholapuram. While they won the battle at Viruppatchi they lost the other two battles.

The Maruthu Pandiyars and many of their family members were captured at Cholapuram and they were hanged on 24 October 1801.2.

Poligars in Andhra Pradesh

Prominent among these freedom struggles in Andhra Pradesh was the revolt in Rayalaseema in 1800.

The poligars of Rayalaseema backed by people of the region were a terror to the British. According to the data available, there were 80 poligars in Rayalaseema in 1800, who had refused to accept the authority of the Englishman. The then principal collector of the region, Thomas Munroe, ordered the poligars to lay down their arms and pay cess to the East India Company. They refused to budge and Munroe had to fight it out for a full 18 months before they could be brought under control.

A patriot poligar, Narasimha Reddy of Kurnool district, rebelled and attacked the treasury at Koilakuntla and marched towards Cumbam. Capt. Holt tried to nab him but Reddy managed to give him a slip and moved over to the then Nizam State. After six weeks, he was caught and hanged in the full view of the people at Koilakuntla. Munroe then ordered the takeover of properties of all the poligars and introduced a scheme of permanent land settlement in the region. 3

The Revolt at Vellore

On 10 July 1806, exactly 200 years ago, as the moon shone over the ramparts of the Vellore fort, at 2 a.m., Indian sepoys rose in a bloody revolt against the East India Company's garrison. As shrieks and gunfire pierced the quiet, the sepoys shot at English officers, fired into the European barracks and massacred the sick in their hospital, leaving 14 British officers and 100 soldiers dead. In the counterattack unleashed at 9 a.m. by Colonel Robert Rollo Gillespie's men, who rushed from Arcot 14 miles away, 350 Indians sepoys were put to death. Some British accounts place the figure at 800. This little documented event was the first major rebellion against the emerging British Empire in colonial India. It cost the governor of Madras, Lord William Bentinck his job.

At the time of the revolt, the fort - a late 14th-century Vijayanagara construction of European design encased by a crocodiles-infested moat, captured by Shivaji in 1677, and garrisoned by the East India Company in 1768 - comprised four companies of His Majesty's 69th Regiment, six companies of the 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment, and the whole of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Regiment, accounting for 1500 Indian sepoys and 370 Englishmen.

Though discontent had been brewing among the Indian soldiers drawn from various parts of the Deccan over poor treatment, loss of erstwhile status, and poor pay, the immediate provocation for the unbridled outburst of aggression was apparently the introduction of a controversial new turban, viewed by Indians as a firangi topi (hat), and the implementation of new regulations over the sporting of caste marks on foreheads,

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 earrings and facial hair. This Code of Military Regulations was given approbation on 13 March 1806 by Sir John Cradock, commander-in-chief of the Madras Army.

Lending political and historical weight to the cause of the rebels was the presence of a huge contingent of Tipu Sultan's family - twelve sons and eight daughters - stationed in various mahals within the fort precincts since the fall of Srirangapatnam in 1799. The entire retinue, with servants and followers numbering a few hundreds, lived in privacy and palatial comfort though stripped of their former princely glory. According to S. S. Furnell, the first historian to document the mutiny in his The Mutiny of Vellore, whose fragments survive in the Madras Archives, more than 3,000 Mysoreans (mostly 'Mohammedans') had settled in Vellore and its vicinity after it became the abode of the princes. After the English drubbed the French in the Carnatic wars, several 'native soldiers' were employed by the East India Company. Of these, a sizeable number were Tipu's former soldiers, especially of officer rank. They had reason to make common cause with their former masters - Tipu's legatees stationed in the Vellore fort.

The controversial turban (sported by the man in the middle)

A few months prior to the mutiny, Mohammedan fakirs from Mysore acting as agents provocateurs were spotted roaming the streets and bazaars of Vellore staging puppet shows lampooning the British and raising slogans against the firangis. The nomadic fakirs have had a historical association with various Indian armies - the Holkars, the Scindias, the kings of Jaipur - since the 18th century, sometimes acting as mercenaries, joining forces with whoever hired them.

But in the regulations-driven English army they had little place and were seen as troublemakers. Sighted in Vellore since 1805, they acted as agent provocateurs. Under the leadership of Abdullah Khan and Peerzada, former associates of Tipu, the fakirs staged puppet shows in Vellore lampooning the English and proclaiming their impending doom. Mocking the Hindus and Muslims in the army for accepting the new regulations, for sporting the turban which comprised a leather cockade - thus inviting caste and religious 'pollution' - and a turnscrew resembling a cross to be worn next to the heart, the fakirs proclaimed that these would lead to the eventual conversion of all sepoys to

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On 17 June, Mustafa Beg, a sepoy of the 1st Regiment, leaked news of the brewing conspiracy to his commanding officer Lt. Col. Forbes. The officer sought the opinion of the native officers who dismissed the plot and declared Beg to be insane. Beg was transferred and placed in confinement only to be later rewarded with 7,000 rupees and a subhedar's pension. Volumes of Secret Sundries (British military records), believed, in hindsight, that the mutineers, especially those of officer rank, seeking to reinstate the rule of Mysore, were in touch with the Poligars (feudal chieftains in the Deccan), the Holkars, the Marathas, the deposed rulers of Hyderabad and even the French in Pondicherry. They had set 14 July as the common date for mutiny, but Beg's treachery had hastened them.

Fatteh Hyder, Tipu's first son, was perceived to be of one of the key architects of the rebellion, besides Mohiuddin and Moizuddin, the third and fourth sons. Soon after the rebels took control of the Vellore fort on 10 July, they hoisted the flag of Tipu Sultan on the fort and Moizuddin promised to double the salary of the sepoys when the rebellion was completed. While Col. Fancourt, commanding officer of the Vellore garrison, and Lt. Kerras, commanding officer of the 23rd Regiment, were shot at pointblank range; several officers escaped and hid themselves and passed word to the nearest British military station at Arcot. Once the massacre ended and the fort was taken, the sepoys indulged in plunder - ransacking the English quarters and paymaster's office - losing focus of their larger goal. By 7 a.m., several civilians had also entered the fort. According to one British estimate, 5,48,429 pagodas were plundered in the mutiny. As the sepoys and civilians pillaged, Col. Gillespie from Arcot led the 19th Dragoons and the 7th cavalry quite easily since three of the four outer gates of the fort were left unattended. With Col. Kennedy arriving with more reinforcements and the Indian sepoys running out of ammunition, the fort was as easily taken back as had been won by the mutineers. In less than eight hours, the entire drama was over. Gillespie and his men spared the princes and others of Tipu's family; the entire princely retinue was shifted to faraway Calcutta by January 1807.

British military records say that 787 soldiers escaped and 446 were recaptured largely from areas such as Salem, Madurai and Tirunelveli. According to Secret Despatches, Vol 33: 'Six convicted mutineers were blown away from guns [canons], five were shot with musketry, eight were hung.' These executions took place in the western part of the fort. In the Manual of the North Arcot District (1898) magistrate Arthur C. Fox notes with unrestrained glee that the execution by blowing away from the guns 'produced the profoundest impression. A spectator describes how numbers of kites accompanied the

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party to the place of execution, flapping their wings and screeching as if in anticipation of the bloody feast, till the fatal flash which scattered their fragments of bodies in air, when, pouncing on their prey, they caught in their talons many pieces of quivering flesh before they could reach the ground. At sight of this the native troops employed on duty, together with the crowd assembled to witness the execution, set up a yell of horror.' Such horrors perhaps left a devastating impression on the south for it to bypass 1857.

On why this incident has remained on the fringes of the national imagination, A. R. Venkatachalapthy, associate professor with the Madras Institute of Development Studies, says: 'Tamil Nadu has always been on the margins of nationalist historiography, dominated as it has been by the north and Bengal. The "anti-nationalist" trajectory that TN took even by the late 1920s under Periyar and subsequent phenomena like the anti-Hindi agitation and the rise of the DMK, seemed to justify such marginalisation. The silence over Vellore must be understood in this background.' He reckons that Vellore was a mutiny in the strict sense of the word. 'It started in the barracks and lay confined to it, whereas 1857 began as a mutiny and spread over large parts of north India as a civil rebellion.'

Today, Tipu Mahal in Vellore fort, the seat of conspiracy, is under unsupervised renovation. It is now part of a Police Training College where sub-inspectors of the TN Police used to train - bathing and defecating where royalty once lived. The sub-inspectors made way for the mahal to be rendered a high-security prison for LTTE cadre. Another day, another rebellion. On 15 August 1995, 43 LTTE cadres lodged in Tipu Mahal escaped after digging a 153-foot tunnel through the moat. Shamefaced, the TN police have since barred access to the mahal. As a muted commemoration of the historic rising begins, the Tamil public may well be denied a peek into the place where history was made.4

Pazhassi Raja

The late 18th century was a time of wars for the British. The Americans had declared Independence from the British, in 1776 and the French Revolution took place between 1789 and 1799. King George III ruled Britain while George Washington was the President of United States in the 1790s. In South Asia at that time, the Marathas and Tipu Sultan of Mysore were fighting the British. It was at this time that Pazhassi Raja revolted against the British in present-day Kerala.

When Kerala was ruled from Mysore by Tipu and Haider, their officers used to collect taxes directly from the farmers, bypassing the landlords, but the British changed this and decided to collect taxes directly from the kings and Nair Lords. The amount fixed as tax by the British was unreasonable and people did not have the capacity to pay that much. Faced with revolts from people, the kings were unable to collect the taxes.

After Tipu left, the British ignored Pazhassi Raja and gave the land to his uncle on lease. This insult also helped in triggering the revolt. Pazhassi Raja stopped collecting taxes and this upset the British. Since the king was popular, they could not do anything but stop collecting tax for a year, but to add more insult, they extended the lease given to his uncle for another five years. On 28 June 1795, Pazhassi Raja challenged the British by stopping all tax collection and giving refuge to people who were considered revolutionaries by the British.

The Army, deployed under Lt. Gordon, tried to arrest the king in his palace, but he had already escaped. The British negotiated with him and allowed him to return, but another

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misunderstanding caused him to flee again to the mountains of Wynad. Showing that there are no permanent enemies or friends, he sought the help from Mysore; from the same people he helped the British fight. The year 1797 saw a series of revolts resulting in the loss of lives for many British soldiers and they were forced to withdraw. With an army of thousands of Nairs, Pazhassi inflicted such defeat on the British that they were forced to retreat and negotiate. The lease with his uncle was cancelled and Pazhassi agreed to live peacefully with the British.

In 1799, after the fall of Srirangapatnam, the British decide to take over Wynad which Pazhassi claimed as his own. The peace treaty was broken and with an army of Nairs and Kurichiyas, Pazhassi decided to wage a guerilla war from the mountains of Wynad. The fighting started in June 1800, and the British strategy was to isolate Pazhassi from his southern Malabar supporters. They succeeded and Pazhassi was left roaming in the forests with his wife and a few supporters.

His supporters like Chuzhali Nambiar, Peruvayal Nambiar and Kannavathu Shankaran Nambiar were caught and hanged, but this did not halt Pazhassi. In 1802 Edachena Kangan Nair and Thalakkal Chanthu captured Panamaram Fort and killed the 25 British soldiers there and this victory brought a new vigor to the resistance movement. An increase in tax at this stage upset the local population which rose in revolt. The Pazhassi soldiers made use of this and inflicted more damage on the British. Besides this the British troops caught diseases and it looked like they were in deep trouble.^[1]

Confrontation with the British

The potent cause of the revolt was the unpopular and unjust revenue policy followed by the occupying foreign British East India Company in Malabar. The Raja stopped all collections of revenue and further threatened to cut down all the black pepper vines if the Company's officers persisted in revenue collection.

In April 1796, an unsuccessful effort was made by the British to capture the Raja in his own palace at Pazhassi.

On 18 December, the British Commissioner issued a proclamation forbidding the people to assemble or to assist the Pazhassi Raja and warning them that if they did so, they would be considered as irreconcilable enemies of the Company and that their property would be confiscated. On 30 December, a futile attempt was made to reconcile the differences between the Raja and the Company. On 8 January 1797, Pazhassi Raja's Nairs launched a daring attack on the havildar's guard stationed at Pazhassi and the whole party except one man was killed. In the battles fought on successive days, 9th, l0th and 2 March 1797, the detachment made by the Company forces was overpowered by the swords, spears, bows and arrows of Pazhassi Raja's Nairs. As the situation was full of perils, reconciliation with the Pazhassi Raja became a matter of political expediency.

After south Canara and other parts of South India were occupied after battle of Seringapatnam in 1799, Pazhassi Raja raised the standard of opposition a second time and shook for a while the very foundations of occupying British power.

Colonel Stevenson's efforts early in 1801 cut off the Pazhassi Raja from his adherents; by May the British troops had made much headway and with every port both above and below the ghats in British hands and the entire Nairs disarmed, the Pazhassi Raja became a wanderer in the jungles accompanied by his wife and immediate attendants.

On 24 May 1804, Col. Macleod issued a proclamation warning the people that they would be treated as rebels if they failed to furnish information about rebel movements and if they helped the Pazhassi troops with arms, ammunition or provisions. Finally the proclamation of 16 June offered rewards for the apprehension of Pazhassi Raja, two

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other members of his family and his principal lieutenants and declared their estates and properties confiscated from that date.

Thomas Harvey Baber, a young British officer came as the sub-collector of Thalassery in 1804 and was assigned the responsibility of suppressing the Pazhassi revolution. In April, he issued a directive making it illegal for the local population to help the revolutionaries and he also mandated that the British should be informed about the movements of the revolutionaries. On 16 June, a reward was announced for the capture of Pazhassi and his commanders and soon Thalakkal Chanthu was captured.

On 1 November, Baber took direct charge of the operations and on 30 November 1805 he surrounded the Raja, but he committed suicide by swallowing his ring on the banks of a Nullah. The Raja's body was cremated with 'customary honours'. With the death of Pazhassi Raja, the resistance movement in north Kerala came to an end. His body was taken back with respect by the British and cremated, but his death brought an end to the resistance movement. The other leaders either committed suicide or left the country.⁵

Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi (1765-1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1802 and 1809, during the reign of His Highness Maharajah Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being one of the earliest individuals to rebel against British East India Company's supremacy in India.

Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi was born in the village of Kalkulam to Sri Kunjumayitti Pillai and his wife Valliyamma Pillai Thankachi on the 6th of May 1765, near the town of Nagercoil in the present-day Indian state of Tamil Nadu which then comprised a southern district of the Travancore country. He came from a family that had been honoured with the high title of Chempakaraman for their services to the state by Maharajah Marthanda Varma. Velayudhan Thampi, better known as Velu Thampi, was appointed a Kariakkar or Tahsildar for the same district during the initial years of the reign of Maharajah Bala Rama Varma. His full name was 'Idaprabu Kulottunga Katirkulatu Mulappada Arasarana Irayanda Talakulatu Valiya Veetil Tampi Chempakaraman Velayudhan'.

Rise to Dalawaship

Bala Rama Varma was one of Travancore's least popular sovereigns whose reign was marked by unrest and various internal and external problems in the state. He became king at the young age of sixteen and came under the influence of a corrupt nobleman known as Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri from Calicut, in the Zamorin kingdom. One of the first acts of atrocities during his reign was the murder of Raja Kesavadas, the existing Dewan of Travancore. Sankaran Nampoothiri was then appointed as Dewan (prime minister) with two other ministers. Due to corruption, soon the treasury was empty. So they decided to collect money by ordering the Tahsildars (District Officers) of the districts to pay large amounts of money which they determined without any reference to the revenue of the districts. They were called to the palace and told to pay the amount. Velu Thampi who was the Tahsildar of a southern district was called and ordered to pay Rs. 3000 to which he responded by asking for three days' time. Velu Thampi returned to the district, gathered the people together and there was an uprising. People from all parts of the State joined together and surrounded the palace demanding an immediate dismissal of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri and banishment from the country. They also demanded that his two ministers be brought to a public place, flogged

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and their ears cut off. The punishments were immediately carried out and the two ministers were put in jail at Trivandrum. Later Velu Thampi was appointed the Dalawa of Travancore.

Acts as Dalawa

Statue of Velu Thampy Dalawa in the Secretariat campus, Thiruvananthapuram

After Velu Thampi became Dalawa of Travancore he faced serious opposition from two relatives of the late Raja Kesavadas who applied for help from their associates at Bombay to get rid of Velu Thampi. These letters were intercepted and presented to the Maharajah in a negative light, who ordered the immediate execution of the two men, Chempakaraman Kumaran Pillai and Erayiman Pillai. Having cleared his way, Velu Thampi became the Dalawa facing no more opposition. The Madras Government sanctioned his appointment within a few months.

Velu Thampi was not an able statesman like Ramayyan Dalawa or Raja Kesavadas, his immediate two predecessors. He was of rebellious nature. Within three years of the death of Raja Kesavadas the country was plagued with corruption and various problems caused by the banished Namboodiri Dalawa. Velu Thampi resorted to harsh punishments with a view to improve situations in his country. Flogging, cutting of the ears and nose, nailing people to trees, etc. were some of the punishments meted out during his reign as Dalawa. The harshness however had its effect and peace and order was restored in the state within a year of Velu Thampi's accession to Dalawaship.

Intrigues Against Velu Thampi

The undue severity and overbearing conduct of the Dalawa resulted in resentment amongst his own colleagues, the very same people who had assisted his rise to power. A conspiracy was formed against him under the influence of Kunjunilam Pillai, a powerful cabinet official of Travancore who succeeded in getting the Maharajah to sign a royal warrant to arrest and immediately execute Velu Thampi Dalawa. The Dalawa was at Allepey when he received intimation of the conspiracy and immediately hurried to Cochin to meet the British Resident Major Macaulay who was a good friend. The Resident had already received evidence that Kunjunilam Pillai had a major hand in the murder of Raja Kesavadas and hence he, arming Velu Thampi with a small force of British soldiers, deputed him to Trivandrum where the conspiracy of Kunjunilam Pillai was investigated. Pillai was found guilty of murder and conspiracy and accordingly punished. With this obstacle removed, Velu Thampi regained his former influence once again.

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The armies of Travancore consisted of the Nairs and when in 1804 Velu Thampi proposed a reduction in their allowances, the same was met with immediate discontent. The troops believed that this proposal was at the suggestion of the British and could immediately be resolved by the assassination of both, the Resident Major Macaulay as well as the Dalawa Velu Thampi. Velu Thampi fled to Cochin again to his friend, the Resident, as the Nairs marched to Trivandrum in a strong army of 10,000 sepoys and demanded of the Maharajah the immediate dismissal of the Dalawa and ending of any alliance with the British. Meanwhile, the Resident and the Dalawa collected forces at Cochin and, assisted by the Carnatic Brigade, marched to Trivandrum and put an end to the mutiny. Several of its leaders were executed in the most gruesome manner. One Krishna Pillai, a commander of a regiment, had his legs tied to two elephants which were driven in the opposite direction, tearing him to pieces.

The Treaty signed with the British East India Company by the popular Maharajah Dharma Raja Rama Varma in 1795 was revised in what is known as the Treaty of 1805, after the insurrection of the Nair troops in Travancore. It increased the British force stationed in Travancore and the amount of money to be paid as tribute to the British. This was the main change brought about in the Treaty.

Travancore was at that time, owing to all its internal problems, facing a heavy financial crisis and the ratification of the Treaty by Velu Thampi created serious discontent as it increased the dependence of Travancore on the British and also indebted it to the English Company. In spite of being fully aware of the financial crisis in Travancore, the Resident Major Macaulay pressed Velu Thampi for immediate payment of the large amount of tribute and the expenses of putting down the mutiny of the Nair troops. The Maharajah meanwhile wrote to the Madras government for the recall of the Resident and appointment of a new resident, which was denied. But this news made the Resident more obstinate against Travancore and he pressurised the Dalawa immediate payments.

The Dalawa was now disillusioned with the British whom he had considered a friend and who considered any 'aggression on Travancore as an aggression on themselves' as per the previous treaties. His discontent was first given vent to by the assassination of the ambassador of the Resident in the court. The Maharajah had communicated his discontent with the Dalawa to this ambassador, a certain Subba Iyen, and this information was known to the Maharajah's wife, Arumana Amma, a noblewoman of the Arumana Ammaveedu family. She was a lady of influence, who apparently communicated Royal secrets to the Dalawa, and informed the Dalawa of the Maharajah's intention to dismiss him, with support from the Resident. This increased the anger of the Dalawa against the British. First the Resident demanded for impossible amounts of money and now he had started interfering with the internal affairs of the state.6

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Paliath Achan Govindan Menon

Just as in Travancore, affairs in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin were also in a state of great confusion and dislike against the Resident. The Rajah of Cochin had retired to a small village near Alwaye while the kingdom was actually run by his powerful minister and relative, the Paliath Achan Govindan Menon. Paliath Achan wanted the assassination of a powerful and trusted aide of the Rajah, a certain Kunju Krishna Menon (whose daughter later married Ayilyam Thirunal, Maharajah of Travancore), who was protected by the Resident. This increased the hostility between the Paliath Achan and the Resident who started interfering in the internal affairs of Cochin as well, incurring serious displeasure from the Paliath Achan.

Velu Thampi's Insurrection

Velu Thampi Dalawa and the Paliath Achan, Govindan Menon, met and decided on the extirpation of the British Resident and end of British supremacy in their respective states. Velu Thampi organised recruits, strengthened forts and stored up ammunition while similar preparations were made by the Paliath Achan in Cochin. Velu Thampi applied to the Zamorin of Calicut and to the French for assistance, but both did not acknowledge the request. The plan of the Paliath Achan and Velu Thampi was to unitedly attack the Fort of Cochin and murder the British Resident Major Macaulay and Kunju Krishna Menon. Another force was appointed to attack the British garrison at Quilon. This was in the year 1807.

The Resident realised the object of the simultaneous preparations on Travancore and Cochin and immediately wrote to the Madras government for reinforcements. His Majesty's 12th Regiment and two native battalions were ordered to aid the Resident. Velu Thampi pretended great alarm at these preparations and begged permission to resign his office and retire to Malabar in the English territories. The same was agreed upon and on 28 December 1808 Velu Thampi was to be escorted to Malabar. The intention of Velu Thampi, however, was to divert the Resident's forces away from Cochin in which he succeeded. That night a body of armed men led by the Paliath Achan, surrounded the Residency at Bolghatty Palace and surprised the

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Resident, who was under the impression that the menace of Velu Thampi was finally over. The Resident and Kunju Krishna Menon, however, succeeded in escaping and reached Quilon. The disappointed Velu Thampi asked his troops to attack them at Quilon.

The Nair troops meanwhile attacked the Subsidiary force of the British at Quilon. In spite of greater numbers, the troops were not organised and lacked a leader and hence for the night on 30 December 1808 the British under Col. Chalmers held their ground. The Dalawa did not lose heart. He collected a force of thirty thousand men and again attacked the British on 15 January 1809. The British organised their armies strategically and the Nair sepoys were finally repulsed. The British regiments in Cochin were attacked by the Paliath Achan but here too he was defeated.

Velu Thampi then went to Kundara where he made his famous proclamation in January 1809 urging the people to fight the British. The proclamation had its effect and the whole country rose like one man against the British. This was now a desperate game being played by Velu Thampi. He exploited the religious orthodoxy of the people by making them believe the British were Christian missionaries. The proclamation even influenced the Maharajah at Trivandrum who felt now that Velu Thampi was his only true friend. Wholesale butchery of foreigners took place in Travancore, thereby disgracing the cause of the rebellion. The British realised that the Dalawa was now desperate.

Rebellion Quelled

Colonel Leger came from Madras on 6 February 1809 and camped on the Aramboly pass. He entered Travancore the next morning and attacked the lines of the Nair troops near the Palamcottah fort. The Nair troops were defeated and the Dalawa himself fled to Trivandrum. Having secured entry into Travancore the British now moved into the interior and within a few days the two important forts of Padmanabhapuram and Udayagiri also fell into their hands. Meanwhile the Nair troops at Quilon, where they were planning yet another final attack, heard of the fall of these forts and losing heart dispersed, the cause of overthrowing the British yoke being forgotten.

Velu Thampi himself fled from Trivandrum touching at Kilimanoor where he called on the Royal family there. After staying there for the night he proceeded northwards but was overtaken in the Bhagawati Temple at Mannadi where he was surrounded by the British. The Maharajah had joined hands with the British for his capture under the influence of Ummini Thampi, a government official. However, the Dalawa was not taken alive. In the Temple he asked his brother to cut his throat, which on being refused, he did it himself. Velu Thampi thus died in the Mannadi Temple.

His brother surrendered and was taken to Quilon and executed there. Velu Thampi's body was taken to Trivandrum and exposed on a gibbet. The man who informed the British of the Dalawa's whereabouts received an award of Rs. 50,000 from the British. Velu Thampi's ancestral home was razed to the ground and his relatives after being flogged and banished were taken to the Maldives, where upon reaching Tuticorin many of them committed suicide.

It is true that Velu Thampi failed militarily against the British - though he commanded a well-trained army equipped with muskets and artillery organized on modern basis -3,000 men and 18 guns. Also the warrior Nair caste which had nearly 80,000 fighters and common people in general was supportive of Dalawa. Velu Thampi though a good administrator was no first-class general. Even the British were not impressed by the performance of the Travancore army, which could have fought vastly better than it did. Was this not the same Travancore army that fought so well in defence of Nedumkotta against Tipu's hordes in 1790? The answer lies in the fact that even

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Pagrtough and brave troops, which the Travancore army defintely had, if not led by a capable commander would fall apart at the first blow from a strong enemy. It undoubtedly was a tragedy that Velu Thampi was neither himself a good general nor did he have services of good generals.

It would be instructive to remember that Pazhassi Raja with no more than 1,000 men mostly armed with swords, spears and bows-arrows and a territory that was limited to present-day Wynad district and Thalassery taluk of Kannur district, held out against the British for nearly a decade [1793-97/1800-1805]. Had Dalawa followed guerrilla warfare in the hilly terrain of eastern Travancore, perhaps he could have held out against the British for years or perhaps for decades.

To the valiant memory of the great Dalawa,The Kerala State Government has instituted an apt memorial at Mannadi which includes a research centre, a museum, a park and a grand statue in bronze.

Following the end of Velu Thampi Dalawa, the Paliath Achan, without any support left, surrendered to the British. He lost all support from the Rajah of Cochin, who wished to get rid of the Paliath Achan, who was the actual ruler of Cochin, and recover his position under subordination of the British. Govindan Menon, the then Paliath Achan was first deported to Madras, where he was kept prisoner at Fort St. George for 12 years. He was then taken to Bombay and remained a prisoner there for 13 years, finally passing away at Benares.7

Kandukuri Veeresalingam also known as Kandukuri Veeresalingham Pantulu (16 April 1848-27 May 1919) was a social reformer from Andhra Pradesh. Born in an orthodox Andhra family, he is widely considered as the man who first brought about a renaissance in the Telugu people and Telugu literature. He was influenced by the ideals of the Brahmo Samaj, particularly those of Keshub Chunder Sen. He got involved in the cause of social reforms. In 1876 he started a Telugu journal and wrote the first prose for women. He encouraged education for women, and started a school in Dowlaiswaram in 1874. He started a social organisation called Hitakarini (Benefactor).

Son of Subbarayudu and Punnamma, he was born on 16 April 1848 in a Brahmin family (6000 Niyogi) at Rajahmundry (now in Andhra Pradesh). When he was six months old, he survived an attack of small pox, a killer disease in those days. His father died when he was four years old and he was adopted by his paternal uncle Venkataratnam, who raised him as his own son.

After a basic grounding in the Indian classics, he joined an English school and attracted attention as a keen scholar with an analytical mind. He was unanimously elected as the best student of the school and was exceptional in his conduct. He mastered both English and Sanskrit.

His first job was that of a teacher in Koranki village. After serving as a teacher and later as headmaster for two years at Koranki, he moved on to Davaleswaram as headmaster in an English-medium school.

In 1861, he married Bapamma Rajyalakshmi. He was then 13 and she was only eight years old. When Bapamma grew up, she played an important role in his life, sharing his progressive ideas and extending support to him in his difficult days.

He was influenced by the Brahmo Samaj leader, Atmuri Lakshmi Narasimha. The ideas of Raja Rammohun Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Keshub Chunder Sen had a powerful impact on him. David Kopf says; 'The new social conscience and consciousness of Unitarianism was in Rammohun almost entirely directed to the miserable state of Hindu women. He found them uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as sati. One has only to read

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Rammohun's works on social reform to realize that most of it deals with one aspect or another of man's inhumanity towards women in Bengal. The conclusion is that only by freeing women and by treating them as human beings could Indian society free itself from social stagnation.'

Kandukuri Veeraselingam Pantulu expressed the opinion that '[t]he denigration of women has ruined our society', and dedicated his entire life to the cause of uplift of women in his society. He started a magazine named Vivekavardhini (Knowledge Improver) at Davaleswaram, in which he wrote about women's uplift, criticised superstitious beliefs among people and rampant corruption among officials. Initially, he had the magazine printed at Chennai but when it gained in popularity, he set up his own press at Rajahmundry. He launched Satihitabobhini, a special magazine for women. Through it, he enlightened women about their rights.

He organised the Rajahmundry Social Reform Association in 1878. Initially, it concentrated on the anti-nautch movement to discourage the hire of nautch girls for celebration, but later concentrated on widow remarriage.

He organised the first widow remarriage in the area on 11 December 1881. Pyda Ramakrishnayya of Kakinada extended financial support for it. However, both of them faced severe opposition from society. He succeeded in bringing about a change in the mindset of his people and gradually more and more people accepted widow remarriage. His progressive thoughts brought in severe criticism and opposition but he continued unabated. He fought to abolish child marriages and Kanyasulkam (a kind of dowry given by the groom to the bride's parents).

In 1881, his contemporary social and religious reformer, Kolkata-based Sivanath Sastri met him at Rajahmundry, during one of his missionary visits. About his meeting, Sivanath Sastri writes: 'The next day I went by boat to Rajahmundry, and shall gratefully remember the love and affection of Veerasalingam and the hospitality of his wife. Veerasalingam's wife is a remarkable person. On one hand, she is strong willed, powerful and dutiful. On the other, she is soft hearted and dedicated to the well being of others. It is because Veerasalingam got a wife like her that he was able to carry on with his work in spite of social oppression.'^[3]

In the History of the Brahmo Samaj, Sivanath Sastri writes about Kandukuri Veeraselingam Pantulu: 'He constructed the first Brahmo Mandir in the Andhra country at Rajahmundry in 1887, he constructed a Widows' Home, a two storied building and a similar one for the Social Reform Association at Madras; he started the first theistic high school, the Hithakarini School at Rajahmundry in 1908; during the same year he willed away all his property for the benefit of Rajahmundry Widows' Home and the school, and placed them under the management of an association, the Hithakarini Samaj. The movement spread from Rajahmundry to Coconada (presently Kakinada), Parlakimedi, Palakole, Narsapur, Vijaywada and Tenali.'

He is also credited with the setting up of Brahmo Samaj at Bangalore.

Veeresalingam Panthulu is popularly called Gadhya Thikkana. He wrote around 100 books between 1869 and 1919^[5] and introduced the essay, biography, autobiography and the novel into Telugu literature. His Satyavathi Charitam was the first social novel in Telugu. He wrote Rajasekhara Charitamu, inspired by Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefied. To him literature was an instrument to fight social evils. He was a poet of considerable renown.

He was also one of the members of the first Indian National Congress meeting held in 1885.

He died on 27 May 1919. His statue has been installed on Beach Road, Visakhapatnam.8

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