In 1774, Pazhassi Raja had to face a critical crisis – Hyder Ali’s troops not only ravaged his country but were also threatened by Raja of Chirakkal (north of modern Kannur district) from west and Raja of Coorg from north and east. Hyder Ali had promised that Kottayam would be divided and rewarded to Raja of Coorg and Raja of Chirakkal in exchange for help and so they too joined hands with Hyder.
Insurgent warfare raged for four years but with no clear victory – all efforts to subdue Pazhassi Raja had failed in spite of being driven away into mountains of Western Ghats from where he raised a vast army of tribal Mullukurumbas and Kurichias. Huge number of armed volunteers - Nayar knights and Tiyyar peasants – joined partisan army of Pazhassi Raja who chose forests rather than bow before Mysore government.
Pazhassi Raja had trade links with British coastal trade post at Tellicherry (now Thalasseri) which was a fort as well as a main naval base on West Coast. Hyder who was planning to open his second round of war with British decided to weaken British position in South West coast of India by capture of Tellicherry.
In 1778, so Hyder ordered his ally Raja of Chirakkal to besiege Tellicherry. Chirakkal force besieged Tellicherry only find them surrounded and starved by Pazhassi Raja and troops. Chirakkal army retreated only to be surprised on route home by another detachment of Pazhassi Raja’s men and suffered major loss.
In 1779, Hyder Ali decided to throw off his cover and so sent a large force to besiege Tellicherry – vassal Rajas of Chirakkal and Kadathanad also joined. But a rebel faction in Kadathanad joined hands with Pazhassi Raja and British and now scene was set for a long contest. A huge Mysore-allied army marched towards Tellicherry.
In 1779, British had only a few hundred men in Tellicherry and it looked like fall of Tellicherry was imminent. But Pazhassi Raja dispatched a force of 2,000 crack Nayar troops to help British. 1000 went direct to Tellicherry whereas rest moved towards Vadakara and twice defeated Mysore army at Muttangal (Kainatty). But their bid to capture Vadakara was unsuccessful.
Combined forces of Pazhassi Raja and British held out in spite of repeated waves of mass assaults by Mysore-allied army. Each wave of assault was driven back and for three years they held in face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Pazhassi Raja also ensured that defenders in Tellicherry did not starve and even delivered all of spare grain his country had – because fall of Tellicherry would in one stroke cripple British on west coast and choke supplies of arms rebels bought from British merchants.
As his men helped British to check Mysore army at gates of Tellicherry, Pazhassi Raja and his men scored a great victory in 1779 at Kalpetta in Wynad – Pazhassi Raja and troops harassed and starved the Coorg army and forced them to retreat. This was followed by another invasion by 2,000 Coorgs. This army was annihilated by Kottayam army.
With this decisive victory he could throw a whole new army into struggle for Tellicherry. But he decided to do that cleverly and at right moment.
As early as 1780, Pazhassi Raja talked to representative of Bombay Governor in Tellicherry and advised him to bring reinforcements and put forward a plan – It was that once reinforcements arrive from Bombay, they must launch a sortie into enemy lines outside fort to split the enemy formation into two and link up with his own men who will simultaneously appear behind enemy lines and thus put whole enemy camp in panic and confusion.
At first British rejected the plan as being too risky – but with no end to siege in sight they consented to Pazhassi Raja’s plan.
In 1782, in a bold and brilliant move, Mysore army was caught between two armies and fell apart with amazing rapidity and Mysore general Sardar Khan died in action. A huge number of enemy troops were fell captive.
This was the severest defeat faced by Mysore army in their twenty five year long operations in Malabar. So severe that not only a major crack Mysore army was wiped out but rebellions broke out across Bullum, Coorg and Malabar and annihilated Mysore regiments stationed in those provinces.
Pazhassi Raja made a deep impression on British soldiery too with his timely help and genius– during his struggle on British a decade later, many a British officer did wonder about the ingratitude and injustice committed by their government on a man who gave most decisive help during one of the hardest crisis faced by British government in India.
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