Act 3 - Lion of Keralam Versus Tiger of Mysore: Resistance to Tipu Sultan

Hyder Ali died in 1782.

From 1782 till 1784, Kottayam became a free country.

It goes to credit of Pazhassi Raja that he made no attempt to make himself Raja of Kottayam – he could have easily done that as his subjects and Nayar militia supported him with enthusiasm. Instead he humbly claimed himself as only a mere representative of his uncle who had fled to Travancore.

Ravi Varma Raja returned from exile and took over government once more. Pazhassi Raja became second in command on account of his great achievements bypassing rest of his elderly kinsmen.

But one of his uncles, Vira Varma was quite jealous of his nephew's success and popularity. He even tried to negotiate a deal with Mysoreans at a time when Kottayam was engaged in alliance with English East India Company during Siege of Tellicherry. He was desirous of acquiring power for himself and was skilled in intrigue. He had absolutely no sense of responsibility for his country and subjects and was entirely self centered. He was willing to sacrifice his country's interests for his personal interest.  

In 1784, by Treaty of Mangalore, British recognized Malabar as Mysore sphere of influence.

Hyder Ali was dead and now his son Tipu Sultan has succeeded him.

This time instead of war, Ravi Varma Raja of Kottayam chose to negotiate with Mysore government – Pazhassi Raja kept a low profile these days as he chose crisis not peace as his time of action.

Ravi Varma met Tipu Sultan to debate on sum of tribute and they arrived at a sum acceptable for both parties. But soon Mysore representative in Kottayam demanded far more as tribute – sum well beyond ability to that country pay.

Mysore representative used his military force to realize the sum of tribute fixed by him. Peasantry who driven to corner by this crisis turned to their hero Pazhassi Raja for rescue and he immediately swung into action.

Exorbitant demands have driven many across Malabar into despair and Pazhassi Raja and his people rose en masse along whole of Malabar in 1785.

In 1786, Ravi Varma once more went to Mysore to talk with Tipu. But Tipu instead of trying for a settlement bullied Ravi Varma to sign a treaty by which Kottayam agreed for annexation of Wynad by Mysore government Pazhassi Raja when he learnt of this news become angry and decided to act.

So far Pazhassi Raja’s resistance to Tipu was confined only to western provinces of Kottayam. Now he decided to enlarge his zone of struggle eastwards into Wynad– and in 1787 large scale rising flared up across Wynad.

By 1788, Mysore subedar of Malabar in exasperation asked Tipu to deal with the crisis that has now spiraled out of his control.

This time Tipu decided to visit Malabar in person to solve the problems – though it is another story that he made sure those problems of Malabar would reach that level – that level which would in end become the beginning of his end.

Tipu opened peace talks with all rebel captain and they too showed signs of compromise – but soon rebellion become even more serious as Tipu decided to forcibly convert Hindus of Malabar to Islam as they refused to follow his code of marriage and costume. Fanatics amidst local Muslims also joined hands with Mysore army to convert their Kafir neighbors to Islam.

This caused wholesale revolt in Malabar with revolt spreading even to areas previously obedient to Mysore government. Tipu sent an advance guard in 1788 to hunt down rebellious Hindus and forcibly convert anyone whom they could lay hands on. Many members of upper class Hindus in Malabar fled to Travancore fearing forcible conversion. Rest of the Hindus took to mountains and forests and fought insurgent warfare with Mysore army.

In early 1789, he returned with a vast army to curb the revolt but not only did he fail but he compounded his mistake by oust of his allied Hindu Raja of Chirakkal and installed one a local Muslim chieftain instead – thus rebellion arose even in those parts of Malabar previously allied to Mysore.

On the news that Tipu was about to march into Malabar with a force of 60,000 men, plenty of members of Kottayam royal lineage fled to Travancore - this includes Raja Ravi Varma himself and villainous Vira Varma too. Only prince of consequence to have stayed put in Kottayam was Pazhassi Raja. He was not willing to leave his people to their fate. He decided to fightback.

He ordered his subjects from low lying areas to move into his strongholds in mountains. He took initiative to develop settlements in deep forests. He and his armed followers constantly descended from hills and plundered and harassed Mysore army and their local supporters in numerous engagements - big and small. Tipu Sultan himself had come to Kottayam with a large force to crush resistance. He captured low lying part of Kottayam but could not attain a decisive victory over Pazhassi Raja. 

Mysore army tried to build roads into wild part of Kottayam that harbored Hindu resistants led Pazhassi Raja. But due to excellent forest warfare waged by Raja and his followers, this attempt made no progress and Mysorean army suffered serious loss. Pazhassi Raja took war to gates of Mysore itself –His rebels plundered Mysore treasuries and sandalwood right under nose of Tipu and repeated the act with impunity. Tipu and his troops could do little to check these plundering raids and this brought considerable blot to prestige of Mysore government. Raja even laid claim to area as far as Nanjangod, which lay only 15 miles from Mysore.

In 1789, Tipu made most serious mistake of attack on Travancore, a state under British “protection”. Tipu failed to overrun Travancore and got crippled for life in one skirmish and soon British invaded his country from east in 1790.

British could bring Tipu to his knees after a year of war in 1791. Tipu was subdued because British was able to trap Tipu in a two front war – as bulk of British army invaded Mysore from east, another British military mission landed on Malabar Coast and moved toward Mysore via Coorg.

Kindly note that British army mission that landed on Malabar coast could not have overcome Mysore regiments stationed there had it not been for help given to British by local rebels who swelled British ranks by thousands and supplied plenty of food and harassed Mysore regiments by irregular warfare.

It is no surprise that Colonel Hartley who fought the most important engagement near Tirurangadi in Southern Malabar describe this battle as of decisive importance. His force of 2000 men was aided by 5000 men led by Calicut prince Ravi Varma. 

Tipu thus dearly paid for his ill treatment of locals in Malabar – Food for thought. What will have happened if people of Malabar had joined hands with Mysore instead of British in 1790-91?

In 1790, Pazhassi Raja came to help British detachment in Tellicherry to oust Mysore army in North Malabar. They jointly captured a main Mysore outpost at Katirur. Pazhassi Raja was also invited to take part in a military planning to capture Cannanore where a large and strong Mysore army had entrenched. Raja at the head of his troops marched along with British to Cannanore and defeated the Mysore garrison there. After this, Kottayam army moved up into Wynad to free that area of Mysore troops. After three years of war, that is in 1793, Wynad was finally free of Mysore rule. 

in 1790, Raja initiated a large program to rebuild his war torn country. 

He persuaded his peasantry who had taken refuge in mountain fastness to return home and return to the earlier life. Mindful of the fact that many of them have lost all their possession in exodus into mountains, he knew that they needed help from government to rebuild their lives. 

So Raja formed a large fund with his personal money and loans he secured from rich merchants of Tellicherry and even from East India Company. Thus money was used to large number of  Raja cattle, tools, seeds and sapling which were freely distributed to peasant folk. 

Ravi Varma Raja died in exile in 1790. 

Pazhassi Raja had taken charge of Kottayam government since 1789. His subjects - nobles and peasantry alike - considered him as their true monarch. Their respect and love was on account of the fact that he had not abandoned his country and people like his elders during most terrible of all Mysore onslaughts in 1789.

An agreement was entered between Raja and East India Company in 1790 which promised to recognize independence of Raja once war was over. Similar treaties were also signed with all Rajas and chieftains of Malabar who had aligned with British during Third Anglo-Mysore War.