Pazhassi Raja
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Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, popularly known as the Lion of Kerala, was the king of the Kottayam royal family of Malabar in 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.
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[edit] Confrontation with the British
Soon after the British colonialists began their occupation as a deal from Battle of Seringapatam, a serious opposition was headed by Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of the Padinjare Kovilakom of the Kottayam royal family. 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 in Kottayam. 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 8th January 1797, PazhassiRaja'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, l0th and 2nd March 1797, the detachment made by the Company forces was overpowered by the swords, spears, bows and arrows of Pazhassi Raja's men. 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 in South Malabar and 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 accnmpanied 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.
[edit] Death
On 1st November, Baber took direct charge of the operations and on November 30, 1805 he surrounded and shot the Raja dead in an operation 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.
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
Pazhassi Raja: The Royal Rebel by Shreekumar Varma (Macmillan, 1997)
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