Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

[S.A.T.A]

Veera Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

Veera Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, known as the Lion of Kerala, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Kottayam in present day Kuthparambu near Tellichery in Kannur District in northern Kerala and one of the first martyrs in India in the struggle against the British. He achieved the title Veera (brave) when he died fighting a guerrilla war against British occupation.

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, popularly known as the Lion of Kerala, hailed from Padinjare Kovilakam and was the king of the Kottayam Royal family (near modern day Thalassery, Kannur district) of the Malabar region in the present day area of Kerala, India, during the last decades of the 18th century.

He achieved the title Veera (brave) when he fought a guerilla war against British occupation with the able help of his loyal Kurichiyar tribe.

Kingdom of Pazhassi Raja

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was born in Padinjare Kovilakam, which was the western branch of Kottayam Royal family. Kottayam kingdom covered the present day Wayanad area and was divided in to Nadukal(divisions) and placed under Nair cheiftains for administration. Mananthavady was the capital of this kingdom.

Revolt against British

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 happened 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 land lords, 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 June 28, 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 was 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 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 and Kurichiyas, Pazhassi inflicted such defeat on the British that they were forced to retreat and negotiate. The lease with his uncle was canceled 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 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 Kungan 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.

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. He stopped all collections of revenue. The Raja 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 December 18, 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 December 30, a futile attempt was made to reconcile the differences between the Raja and the Company. On 8 January 1797, Pazhassi Raja's Nairs launched daring attack on the havildar's guard stationed at Pazhassi and the whole party except one man was killed. In the battles fought on three successive days, 9th, 10th and 11 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, a 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 whole Nairs disarmed, the Pazhassi Raja became a wanderer in the jungles accompanied by his wife and immediate attendants.

On May 24, 1804, Colonel 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 June 16 offered rewards for the apprehension of Pazhassi - Raja, two other members of his family and his principal lieutenants and declared their estates and properties confiscated from that date.

Death

Thomas Harvey Babar, 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 June 16, a reward was announced for the capture of Pazhassi and his commanders and soon Thalakkal Chanthu was captured.

On November 1st 1805, Baber took direct charge of the operations and on November 30th Pazhassi Raja was surrounded and by the British army was shot dead. 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 bought an end to the resistance movement. The other leaders either committed suicide or left the country.

Puralimala between Mattannur and Muzhakkunnu was the center of Pazhassi revolt (1793-97; 1800-1805).

 

[S.A.T.A]

Recently a big screen adaptation of the life of Pazhassi Raja hit the theaters.The movie has mamooty playing the lead role and the remarkable M T Vasudevan Nair scripting the movie and Hariharan directing it.

Watch it.

 

[RAM]

Tales of V K V Pazhassi RAJA as quoted from The Hindu from the link : http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2006/05/21/stories/2006052100310400.htm

THE night of November 29, 1805 was surprisingly hot and humid in the jungles beyond Wayanad. A small army of rebels from Malabar had crossed over to the Mysore side and was holed up there, hiding from the British. None of them could sleep properly and there was a sense of unease.

The next morning, their leader, Kerala Varma, was up early. It was an important day for him, his mother's death anniversary. He bathed in the Mavila Thodu, and finished his prayers. He discussed strategy with his men for a while, and then they formed a protective circle around him as he sat on the bank and the ceremonies began. Suddenly, in the middle of the rituals, they found themselves surrounded by the English army under Sub-Collector Thomas Harvey Baber.

Bullets were fired and the men scattered. His men pleaded with Kerala Varma to escape, but he refused. In the ensuing confusion, a bullet caught him in the chest. With a prayer to Sriporkali, the goddess of Pazhassi, he collapsed on the bank. His men stood helpless, watching the end of their only hope of freedom.

Ingenious tactics


The story of Pazhassi Raja Kerala Varma isn't well known outside Kerala, but he was one of our country's first freedom fighters. He had to reckon with the armies of the Mysore rulers as well as the British. The British first used him against Tipu's army and then reneged on their treaty, coming in to usurp the land. He was forced to flee his palace in Kottayam with a band of trusted followers and spent the rest of his days in the treacherous Wayanad jungles, refusing to give up, and inflicting grave and humiliating injuries on the British. His survival depended on the loyalty and resilience of his subjects under British pressure and the ingenuous strategies he employed to evade and attack the enemy. Using guerrilla tactics and informers, he kept the British on tenterhooks for longer than any other regional ruler. When the British brought out their trump card, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, the strategy worked and ended in the death, if not capture, of the royal rebel.Pazhassi Raja Kerala Varma was exposed to warfare from his early teens. Many of his family members and several well-placed Nair families fled south because of local skirmishes and confrontations with Hyder Ali. But Kerala Varma stayed on in Pazhassi, determined to face the invaders, protect his people and remain close to the family deity, Sriporkali. Pazhassi's first revolt against the British began in 1793. The people were unhappy over the tax collections and the neglect of their welfare. The British selected a pliable administrator for Kottayam, ignoring Kerala Varma's claim, and gave him complete authority. The move was so blatant that even some British reports questioned its wisdom.

Uncanny knowledge


The British soon realised that they were up against a formidable enemy in Kerala Varma. Even when his palace was ransacked and he had to seek refuge in the mountains, he continued to frustrate their efforts with his guerrilla tactics. With the help of tribals and an uncanny knowledge of the treacherous jungles, he and his men indulged in cat-and-mouse games that depleted the strength of the British forces, and soon their single-point agenda was to claim the Raja's head. They accomplished this by befriending a dependant of Kerala Varma, a man who had come to him as a boy on the brink of starvation and grown up under his care. This man, Pazhayaveettil Chandu, knew the Raja and his hiding place intimately, and had no qualms about sharing his knowledge with the British. Kerala Varma was devastated by this betrayal. Even as they moved away to the Mysore side of the forest, they all sensed that the end was imminent.

There are no contemporary portraits of Kerala Varma that show his likeness, but word-pictures remain. Walter Ivor, a member of the former British Court of Directors, happened to be present during a discussion before the first peace treaty with Kerala Varma was signed. He describes a small man with a smile. His followers seemed to love and respect him greatly. Later, the Governor, Jonathan Duncan, who met the Raja in the Tellicherry Fort, had this to say about him: "Pazhassi Raja had long hair and a short thick beard, and was a small man. Sometimes he was in the habit of wearing a red cap. His face radiated a great glow."

His nemesis, Baber, was an energetic young man, reputed to be purposeful and correct. He made sure that people would see Pazhassi Raja's death as the death of a great king and not simply that of an enemy. He placed the body in his own palanquin, and the last rites were performed in a manner befitting a royal departure. Baber described the Raja as an "extraordinary and singular character".

THE night of November 29, 1805 was surprisingly hot and humid in the jungles beyond Wayanad. A small army of rebels from Malabar had crossed over to the Mysore side and was holed up there, hiding from the British. None of them could sleep properly and there was a sense of unease.

The next morning, their leader, Kerala Varma, was up early. It was an important day for him, his mother's death anniversary. He bathed in the Mavila Thodu, and finished his prayers. He discussed strategy with his men for a while, and then they formed a protective circle around him as he sat on the bank and the ceremonies began. Suddenly, in the middle of the rituals, they found themselves surrounded by the English army under Sub-Collector Thomas Harvey Baber.

Bullets were fired and the men scattered. His men pleaded with Kerala Varma to escape, but he refused. In the ensuing confusion, a bullet caught him in the chest. With a prayer to Sriporkali, the goddess of Pazhassi, he collapsed on the bank. His men stood helpless, watching the end of their only hope of freedom.

Ingenious tactics


The story of Pazhassi Raja Kerala Varma isn't well known outside Kerala, but he was one of our country's first freedom fighters. He had to reckon with the armies of the Mysore rulers as well as the British. The British first used him against Tipu's army and then reneged on their treaty, coming in to usurp the land. He was forced to flee his palace in Kottayam with a band of trusted followers and spent the rest of his days in the treacherous Wayanad jungles, refusing to give up, and inflicting grave and humiliating injuries on the British. His survival depended on the loyalty and resilience of his subjects under British pressure and the ingenuous strategies he employed to evade and attack the enemy. Using guerrilla tactics and informers, he kept the British on tenterhooks for longer than any other regional ruler. When the British brought out their trump card, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, the strategy worked and ended in the death, if not capture, of the royal rebel.Pazhassi Raja Kerala Varma was exposed to warfare from his early teens. Many of his family members and several well-placed Nair families fled south because of local skirmishes and confrontations with Hyder Ali. But Kerala Varma stayed on in Pazhassi, determined to face the invaders, protect his people and remain close to the family deity, Sriporkali. Pazhassi's first revolt against the British began in 1793. The people were unhappy over the tax collections and the neglect of their welfare. The British selected a pliable administrator for Kottayam, ignoring Kerala Varma's claim, and gave him complete authority. The move was so blatant that even some British reports questioned its wisdom.

Uncanny knowledge


The British soon realised that they were up against a formidable enemy in Kerala Varma. Even when his palace was ransacked and he had to seek refuge in the mountains, he continued to frustrate their efforts with his guerrilla tactics. With the help of tribals and an uncanny knowledge of the treacherous jungles, he and his men indulged in cat-and-mouse games that depleted the strength of the British forces, and soon their single-point agenda was to claim the Raja's head. They accomplished this by befriending a dependant of Kerala Varma, a man who had come to him as a boy on the brink of starvation and grown up under his care. This man, Pazhayaveettil Chandu, knew the Raja and his hiding place intimately, and had no qualms about sharing his knowledge with the British. Kerala Varma was devastated by this betrayal. Even as they moved away to the Mysore side of the forest, they all sensed that the end was imminent.

There are no contemporary portraits of Kerala Varma that show his likeness, but word-pictures remain. Walter Ivor, a member of the former British Court of Directors, happened to be present during a discussion before the first peace treaty with Kerala Varma was signed. He describes a small man with a smile. His followers seemed to love and respect him greatly. Later, the Governor, Jonathan Duncan, who met the Raja in the Tellicherry Fort, had this to say about him: "Pazhassi Raja had long hair and a short thick beard, and was a small man. Sometimes he was in the habit of wearing a red cap. His face radiated a great glow."

His nemesis, Baber, was an energetic young man, reputed to be purposeful and correct. He made sure that people would see Pazhassi Raja's death as the death of a great king and not simply that of an enemy. He placed the body in his own palanquin, and the last rites were performed in a manner befitting a royal departure. Baber described the Raja as an "extraordinary and singular character".

 

[tarunraju]

Pazhassi Raja, Sivaji, and Alluri Sitarama Raju..our legacy of guerrilla warfare is bigger than I thought. If the movie gets dubbed in Telugu, I'll go watch.

 

[S.A.T.A]

Was the Pazhassi Raja Set Up?

Was the Pazhassi Raja Set Up?

With the defeat of Tipu's army in 1792, the local Rajah's had expected that the British would return to their settlement at Tellicherry, and to resume trading as they had previously done following the wars that had occurred over the previous century.

What they had not appreciated, was that the East India Company was no longer just a trading company, as it had formerly been.

Since changes carried out under Lord North's administration, the East India company had become effectively an extension of the British Government; in effect a state controlled company.

It had changed from a company whose main activity was trading, into one that acted more like a government organisation that increasing paid for itself by revenue or tax gathering, rather than from profits made it had formerly made from trade alone.

It's new directors included men increasingly drawn not from senior returned East India Company officials, but from senior members of the political elite and the ruling classes in Great Britain who were less familiar with India and trade than their predecessors. Their expertise was in with taxing populations and ruling either their own landed estates back in Britain, which were populated by largely compliant tenant farmers, or on behalf of an established and widely accepted government.

The companies new directors also wished to apply the lessons and company procedures that had from their point of view been successfully developed in Bengal between 1760 and 1800 to exploit the taxation of farming and other revenues, and to apply them to the newly acquired territories in Malabar.

The following Political Letter written by Mr. Duncan, describes events in 1792, and the Pyche or Pazhassi Rajah's growing role within the region.

“"That during the war, the People of the [Pyche] Raja seized on the Wynaad as part of their ancient Territory and were at the Peace in possession” and the lasted quoted address to Bombay of June 1792 continues to state “That on the 6th of May 1792 a message arrived from Tellicherry from the Raja of Cotiote, stating that an officer from Tippoo had sent to the person in charge of Wynaad to deliver it up as the right of Tippoo and that similar letters had been sent by the same person to the Raja making the same demand.” Mr. Farmer not having then left Tellicherry, the Chief and Factor requested his ideas and directions on the subject, when he advised that the Raja should instantly send word, that the country being yielded to the English, he the Raja, could give no answer till he had informed the Chief of Tellicherry, but that, as Wynaad was certainly not including in the Grants of Tippoo, it could not consistently be retained, and that therefore the Raja must order the People to withdraw to the Boundaries of Wynaad, there taking a stand, and advising the Chief; if Tippoo’s people presumed to encroach beyond that boundary which the Bombay Commissioners then believed we had no claim to the Eastwards of, in so much that on the 9th of August they wrote to Tippoo’s Subahdar Hurry Purwae apprizing him “that as at the time mentioned by the Treaty we do not find Wynaad to have been under Calicut, we do not mean therefore to detain what was granted to the Company;" [2]

The situation was not made any easier for the local East India Company administrators, by the power struggle that was going on inside the local Rajah's family. There were several local ruling families each controlling small semi-independent and competing areas or Taluks.

The Pazhassi Raja was not the paramount ruler in any of these areas, but was a subsidiary and junior aspirant to one of these territories. The senior Rajah was his uncle, and as events were to show, the younger man was impatient for power, and was seen by more senior members of his family as a threat to their positions.

Over the coming years the Pazhassi Raja was to prove himself to be the most effective war leader amongst the local ruling families.

When the war with Tipu Sultan broke out in October 1789, the other more senior Rajah's had either fled into the Tellicherry settlement or travelled down to Travancore.

They had abandoned their subject peoples to their fate. This had lost cost them much of their former moral authority.

The Pazhassi Rajah had acted with more courage and had taken to the jungles on the slopes of Ghats with the younger men, and allied to the East India Company he had waged a war of ambush and raids on the Mysore troops and supply chain travelling along the Gun Roads Tipu had built to subjugate the Wayanad and Malabar.

These senior Rajah's and especially his uncle were to play a double game over the coming years, as they sort to restrict the Pazhassi Rajah's influence and power which was beginning to challenge their own positions.

Duncan recognised the existence of this growing power when writing on 2nd March 1797 about events in Malabar. In this letter Duncan describes the man we now know as the Pazhassi Rajah,as the Cottiote Rajah.

“the late untoward Events in one of the Northern Districts in the Malabar Province which it grieves me sorely, to have to relate, howsoever much they may appear to have primarily and in a great degree unavoidably flown, from the Rivalry and Dissentions between two Cousin Germane called the Raja’s of Coorimnad and Cottiote, the former progress and fortunate issue of which stand already narrated in the Revenue letter from this Presidency of the 18th of December last, as does their unexpected Renewal in my late address to the Secret Committee of the 12th of January of which a Duplicate is herewith sent—“

“2 You will Gentlemen already know from the first report of the Commissioners that all the Malabar Rajas feel and have indeed all along felt rather uneasy under the degree of Restraint and Submission that we have since the Peace with Tippoo Sultaun endeavoured to subject them to, among these none has been so turbulently impatient all along as the Raja of Cottiote, otherwise called for distinctions sake, and as being indeed his more proper designation the Pyche Raja, one of the members of the family of the Raja’s of that District who having during the late War with Tippoo remained in the Jungles when his other & Senior Relations fled for refuge to Travancore acquired thereby such a footing in the affections of the people, that even after his services returned at the Peace he maintained his influence, so as to have been considered by the first Joint Commissioners from Bengal and Bombay & Treated as the effective or at least the acting Raja, at the same time that, on his behalf & with his consent they settled most or all of what related to his District with the Raja of Coorimnad the son of his Mothers sister (all heirship amongst these Chieftains going in the female line) and who whom as his senior, he professed at all times the greatest deference so as to consider himself to be only the manager under his orders; but yet his conduct was on the whole so turbulent & refractory that in the year 1794 Mr. Stevens then the Supravisor concluded the five years settlement of the Coltiote District not with him but directly with the Coorimnad Raja his relation as being at the head of the house of Cottiote whereas there are several between him and the Pyche (By misnomer called by us the Cottiote Raja) in order of succession not withstanding which the Pyche Chieftain has ever since the conclusion of this quinquenial lease proved extremely restless and jealous that it became soon after my entering on my present charge a serious and pressing consideration how to proceed in regard to him, in as much as he forcibly prevented the Coorimnad’s making the Collections under the quinquennial lease, to such a degree that the latter declared he could not pretend to go on with them without a force of 5 or 600 men of our Troops, in view to all which and also to enable us in pursuance of a Recommendation to that effect, from the Bengal Government to bring him (the Pyche) to account for his conduct in having put some Mapillas of his own Authority to Death, the commanding officer on the coast (General Bowles) was not only instructed to afford the Coorimand Raja the necessary support – but it was left to the last mentioned commanding officer and to the acting Supravisor Mr Handley (comprising the Civil and Military Superior Authority on the spot) to consider whether it might not be advisable in view to saving effusion of Blood if the Pyche Raja’s person be secured so as to prevent his protracting an insurgency by betaking himself an insurgent to the Jungle. [4]

To add to the Pyche Rajah's difficulties, was that fact that he was not just opposed by the equivocal and often hostile attitudes of his older relatives, but also by the private money making activities and interests of messr's Wilkinson, Handley, Stevens, Rivett, Torin and Brown, the local officials of the East India Company based in Tellicherry, that were diametrically opposed to his.

The land the Pazhassi Rajah controlled around his village was one of the best possible areas for the production of pepper. Most of the routes to the other pepper producing areas crossed his domain. They had to get rid of the Rajah if they were to capture his profits for their own personal gain.

The salaries paid to all East India Company officials except the most senior ones, were barely sufficient to cover their expenses.

Custom and practice throughout the 17th and 18th centuries had allowed EIC officials to engage in private trade (known as the Country Trade)in order to make up the difference, as long as it did not involve voyages back to Britain. By the late 18th Century many civilian officials were making fortunes. If they survived to retire as Nabobs, they were able to remit large sums of money back to Britain. Such was the size of some of these sums returned to Britain, that the returning East India Company officials were believed to have bought as many as 84 seats in Parliament that first brought Pitt the Younger to power.

Pitt was the grandson of a former East India Company Official from Madras.

This growing "Indian" influence was too much for the established authorities back in Britain, who were in danger of losing their political power and patronage to the "Indian" lobby.

They sort to prevent such high profits being made, or at least to control who had access to them, by appointing politically acceptable officials directly to the most senior posts, thereby cutting away routes to these posts for most career East India Company officials.

By 1797 it was becoming much harder for men like Wilkinson, Handley, Rivett, Torin and Brown to make money in places like Bombay. A World War was being fought against France, trade was depressed.

Torin, Wilkinson and Rivett lobbied to move to Tellicherry where they hoped to engross the pepper trade for their own personal gain. They had had their attention drawn to the area by Murdoch Brown and by the profits they had been making by selling English guns to Tipu Sultan via the French port of Mahé. [5]

The Board of East India Company also desperately needed to try to recoup the cost of the war with Tipu Sultan, if it were not to reduce dividends further. It therefore decided that it had to tax the newly conquered territory in Northern Malabar.

For this it was necessary to take over the lands, or more importantly a significant share of the revenues that had formerly been paid to the local Rajahs, by the farmers and villagers occupying these districts.

Before Tipu's invasion of the Malabar, the East India Companies territory at Tellicherry had only extended about four or five miles inland, and along a narrow strip of land stretching from the outskirts of Cannanore to the southern edge of Mahé.

After previous local wars, although the British had often fought as allies with local Rajah's against other Rajah's and or against the French and the Dutch, they had not taken over significant stretches of the territory that they had been able to secure with their local allies during the course of these wars.

The local Rajah's appear to have expected that once Tipu was beaten back out of their lands, they could resume their former rule as before, and without any loss of revenues.

This time however it was different. The East India Company had expended massive sums of money, all of which had to go onto the overhead, and which would wipe out dividends for years to come. Having fought the war ostensibly on behalf of the local rulers, they believed that the local rulers and their communities ought to be made to pay back the cost of the war.

The EIC sort to ascertain the likely revenues that Malabar could provide in order to repay the cost of both the provinces administration, as well as of the war, by setting up a Commission.

Walter Ewer described the commission in the following terms.

This country is under the Government of a Commission, who execute the Office of Supervisor.(Messrs Wilkinson, Rickards and Col. Dow)

Without a comment on the abilities of these gentlemen, I shall give a short account of their proceedings. I must however mention, that the Chief is Mr. Rickard’s. A gentleman of only 7 years standing in the service, whose greatest merit seems to be, that he has found out the weak side in Mr. Duncan whose Confidence in him appears to be unbounded.

In my opinion the Commission itself is a Disgrace to a Civilised Government, it is a Commission of Enquiry, parading the Country, petitioning for, and encouraging accusations; a country whose natives are ignorant or regardless of an oath; what must be the astonishment of the Impartial Traveller, when he finds that a Junior is employed to invite Charges against his Superior, & that the Judge expects to succeed to the Station of the Criminal, on his Conviction! I shall take no notice of the loss the Company has sustained, of the services of some very able young men, as an investigation is likely to take place.

But this, and; the loss of Revenue both of which are the Consequences of the Conduct of the Commissioners, are Trifles in Comparison with the Miseries of War. How far they are concerned in these calamities the following Extracts from the Diary will shew.[6]

Whilst it must be recognised that Walter Ewer was a stern critic of the administration of Governor Duncan, and that it is possible to find other accounts of the Commission that speak just as highly of its activities, I believe that subsequent events will show that Ewer correct was correct in his assessment.

This situation was made worse by the corruption being undertaken by several of the commissioners, including Messrs. Stevens and Handley.

"Towards the middle of December 1795 Mr. Stevens, Senior, resigned the Supravisorship and was succeeded by Mr. Handley, and at the same time charges of corruption and bibery were brought before the Governor, Mr. Ducan, by the Zamorin against Messrs. Stevens, Senior, J. Agnew, and Dewan Ayan Aya, a Palghat Brahman for extorting a lakh of Rupees."[7]


The level of mismanagement and corruption is clear from the following report by Ewer.

"This province will be ruined by the Commission of Supravision if continued; as the salary is good, & the station honourable, everyone who has interest at the Presidency will exert to get down here, without considering whether he is qualified for the Station. Not to mention that the Expense is double that of the Supervisor. Gentlemen who have spent most of their Time at Bombay Contract a Habit of Contempt for the Natives, as they converse with none there, except Persee, or Hindoo Merchant’s & when they come down here, they don’t know how to make a Difference, between the Sneaking Persee, who money is his God, & who would sell his soul; & suffer every indignity for Profit, & the Independent nair, who never quits his arms, who seeks no Happiness beyond the Chace, his Liquor & his Woman. The Commissioners began their career of Tyranny, by seizing the Zamorin, whose ancestor’s were the most Powerful Princes on this Coast, a poor helpless old man; & they escaped the Punishment such an act deserved, through the astonishment of his attendants at the audacity of it. Encouraged by impunity they attempted to treat the Cotiote Rajah in the same manner, they attacked and plunder’d his palace, but could not seize his person; about 60,000 Rp’s were carried off by the Troops, besides Jewels & other things. Only 18,000 Rp’s have been restored. This has been followed by an engagement, if it may be so called in which we lost more men, than Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Seringapatam. And our losses would have been still more considerable, had it not been for the generous forebearance of the Enemy who suffer’d several different Parties to retire un-molested. Besides the sacrifice of lives, the Revenue of the disputed District for 20 years to come, will not pay the Expenses of the War. The correspondence of the late Commissioners will shew how unfit they were for their stations. Nor does the President, now returned to the Board, to take his seat as a member of Council at Bombay, (Mr. Rivett) Shew more sense than his predecessors: While the Governor is endeavouring to settle the Dispute by Negotiations, while Mr. Peile the Superintendant, whom I have accompanied on the Expedition to the Cherical Rajah (who as a friend of both Parties, is trying to persuade the rebel Cotiote to visit the Govn General) is waiting the return of a messenger from Cotiote, we receive from Governm’t publick minute of the Commissioner complimenting the Gentlemen of the Service for their activity, & calling the Rajah a despicable or contemptible Chieftain. Such language is not much calculated to forward a negotiation with a man who at this moment is hesitating whether he shall trust himself in our hands."[8]

That this contempt for the local rulers and corruption was not the settled policy of the East India Company Directors or Governor Duncan is clear. The most experienced and one of the longest serving officials on the Malabar Coast, Mr. Peile the Northern Superintendant on the coast was working hard to reach agreement with the Pazhassi Rajah, and on several occasions they were thwarted by the active opposition of the corrupting influence of Messrs, Torin, Wilkinson, Brown, Handley and Stevens, often aided and abetted by the Rajah's uncle.

P.Slease read the rest of the article from the source,which is maintained by Nick Balmer,a great great grand nephew of Thomas Baber,who led the troops of the east India Company against Pazhassi Raja in 1805

 

[S.A.T.A]

Pazhassi Raja, Sivaji, and Alluri Sitarama Raju..our legacy of guerrilla warfare is bigger than I thought. If the movie gets dubbed in Telugu, I'll go watch.

The movie has been dubbed and released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

 

[tarunraju]

Nice. Hasn't released here yet. I guess it will soon.

 

[F-14]

here in the UAE its comming on in cinemas next thursday