Like many cascading streamlets joining a mighty flood, India’s freedom for struggle arose in different parts of the country, eventually sweeping the British Empire from India. India’s epic freedom struggle is the sweat and blood of many legendary figures whose contributions are still unsung. Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja is one such legendary figure who has not found his due place in history despite his heroic resistance through guerilla warfare. His war with the British became famous as the Cotiote war (Kottayathu War).
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, a native prince of Malabar, revolted against the British East India Company even before the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, the more widely known first struggle of Independence that began in Meerut by Indian soldiers who worked for the British East India Company. Pazhassi was popularly referred to as Kerala Simham (Lion of Kerala) on account of his valiance.
He was born into the Kottayam royal family in 1753 as Kerala Varma. During the Malabar invasion of Hyder Ali (Tipu’s father), Pazhassi, who was fourth in line of succession, became the de facto ruler when the King of Kottayam fled to Travancore to seek political asylum. At the age of 21, he sought the support of the British to fight both Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan from 1774 to 1793. When Tipu lost the Third Anglo Mysore War in 1792, he surrendered Malabar to the British.
Pazhassi turned against The East India Company when he realized that they had no plans to restore the Kottayam royal family into power, which was the original agreement. Under the 1792 Treaty of Srirangapatna, Tipu ceded Malabar to the British and staked claim for the area ruled by Varma. They replaced Veera Varma, uncle of Pazhassi Raja, as the King of Kottayam. But the true power remained in the hands of the British.
Following this deception, Vira Varma encouraged Pazhassi to fight the British, offering him a share of the pepper trade due to growing discontent among his people over the increased tax. Pazhassi did not allow Vira Varma’s men to collect taxes, and he was against his people’s exploitation.
In 1796 a British force comprising 300 men attacked Pazhassi’s palace, but he managed to slip off into the densely forested land of Wayanad from where he started guerilla warfare against the British with the help of his loyal men and tribal warriors. Pazhassi Raja had a strong army which consisted of the Kurichiya and Kurumba tribes of the area and some Nair’s. His army slayed 1,000 British soldiers and 3,000 British-employed native sepoys under Major Cameron in a war between 1793 and 1797.
Following this, an agreement was reached wherein, Vira Varma was replaced by Ravi Varma, Pazhassi’s elder brother, and he became the new king. The British also gave back the land which was seized from Pazhassi.
But peace did not last long; with the death of Tipu in 1799, the British once again tried to take over Wayanad. When they faced stiff resistance, they brought in a new army commandant, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who had previously defeated the Marathas and Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo. Although the British remained unsuccessful in taming the revolt of Pazhassi even under the commandment of Wellesley. The Duke has famously remarked, “We are not fighting 1000 men but one man, Kerala Varma”. Pazhassi is the only person to defeat Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, in a war.
However in 1805, Pazhassi faced disloyalty when a Chetti leaked the camp location to Thomas Hervey Baber, the then Sub-Collector. An innumerable army was sent to his camp, who then defeated and killed Pazhassi in what is said to have been a brutally fought battle. But folklore says that Pazhassi consumed poison even before the British could have captured him. The British cremated his body near the banks of Kabani River, paying respects with full military honors at the same spot where he died. Baber characterized him as an ‘extraordinary singular character’ and one among the country’s natural chieftains.
In a true sense, the Pazhassi revolt was a people’s war for national liberation, and it encompassed all classes of people irrespective of caste, religion, and gender. This episode marked the beginning of an era of resistance against the British Empire.
From there, countless incidents like the revolts of the Kurichiya tribe, Velu Thampi Dalawa, Palith Achan in Kochi followed by the Malabar rebellion, Khilafat agitation, Guruvayoor, and Vaikom Satyagraha set forth potent, irresistible flame against British supremacy in Indian land. These symbolic incidents happened in Kerala, thus proving that it was a turbulent stream to row a boat silently in, and that the people of India would never concede themselves to foreign rule.
Bibliography
- https://www.keralatourism.org/thalassery/tourist-circuits/pazhassi
- https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/trailing-pazhassi-raja-to-his-death/article4584713.ece
- https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2020/8/15/Kerala-Simham-Veera-Pazhassi-Raja.html
- https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/pazhassi-tomb-wayanad/212
- https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/kerala-varma-pazhassi-raja-a-true-warrior-king-who-fought-the-british-and-earned-their-respect-350807.html
- https://www.tourmyindia.com/states/kerala/pazhassi-raja-tomb-wayanad.html
- https://www.thebetterindia.com/154585/news-kerala-varma-pazhassi-raja-british/
- https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/pazhassi-raja-1753-1805/
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Hiya, I’m Mariam Roy Chemmanam…
Hiya, I’m Mariam Roy Chemmanam…I am a creative writer from Kerala who is passionate about traveling, art, and heritage exploration. As a postgraduate student of Ecosophical Aesthetics, I believe art, heritage, and culture is the only thing that connects us to our roots. I am an old spirit trapped in the 21st century who finds solace in reading Rumi, Tagore, Shakespeare and listening to ghazals and Hindustani music.
