Velu Thampi Dalawa

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Velayudhan Chempaka Raman Thampi , or Velu Thampi(1765 -1809) was the Dalawa of Travancore(1801-1809) during the reign of Balarama Varma who ruled from 1798 to 1810.

[edit] Early years

He was born in a place named Talakkulam near Nagercoil(Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu) in 1764.

Velu Thampi served as Karyakkar or Tahsildar in Talakkulam in the Kingdom of Travancore during the reign of Bala Ramavarma. A period of misrule prevailed, under the influence of a corrupt minister Jayanthan Sankaran Namboodiri, who had become Diwan (Prime Minister) after usurping the ministership from the able Raja Kesavadas. Maladministration and corruption by Jayantan Sankaran Namboodiri along with Sankara Narayana Chetti, Mathu Tarakan led to a rebellion led by Velu Thampi and Chempaka Raman Pillai. The King was compelled to dismiss the Diwan and his friends. This revolt made him the Commerce Minister (known as Mulaku Madishilakaran). Later he was made the Sarvadhi Karyakkar. He was elevated to the position of Dalawa (Prime Minister) in 1801.

He was an able administrator. He made the public service corruption-free. He established commercial centres like Changanacherry.

[edit] Against the British

In 1807 he led a short but successful revolt against the British who by then had appropriated hegemony over the weak king. The Maharaja was forced to appoint Ummini Thampi who was a favourite of the British as the Prime Minister in place of Velu Thampi. Velu Thampi had popular support and he successfully continued the insurgency against the British until the Maharaja's, who had been neutral in the beginning, sent in his troops to fight Velu Thampi. Towards the end of the second year of the war he ran out of supplies and was confined to being a fugitive. In 1809 he along with his younger brother Padmanabhan Thampi got trapped inside the Mannadi Temple, near Adoor. To evade capture by the enemy who had vowed to capture him alive and make a public spectacle in punishing him, he and his brother committed suicide inside the temple. The bodies were taken to Thiruvananthapuram and was hung for public viewing under the instruction of British as a mark of warning for his followers and in revenge for the defeats suffered by the British.