THE SEPOY MUTINY OF KERALA,1812

Colonel Munro Massacred 29 Indians in Quilon

It is now well known that it was not Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai(1823-1858),who revolted first against the British;it was Kitturu Rani Chennamma(1778-1829)of Karnataka,who declared war against them,in 1824,33 years before,Lakshmi Bai.When Chennamma's son died in 1824,she adopted Sivalingappa,as,heir.The East India Company refused to accept it,applying the doctrine of lapse,which was officially codified later,during 1848-1856,by Lord Dalhousie.The Company ordered his expulsion,but Chennamma defied.When the Governor of Bombay,Mountstuart Elphinstone turned down her letter,war broke out.Several people lost lives,including the Collector & Political Agent for Southern Mahratta Doab region,St John Thackeray, and John Munro,Sub Collector of Sholapur.Munro was the nephew of General Thomas Munro,Governor of Madras( 1820-1827),who was distantly related to Colonel John Munro, Resident of Travancore and Cochin,during 1810-1819.Nephew Munro was killed by a match lock ball,when he accompanied the storming party,against the orders of the Commissioner of Poona,W Chaplin.

Munro

Likewise,the first Sepoy mutiny in India,was not in 1857-a Sepoy mutiny happened,45 years before,in Kollam in Kerala.It was an uprising against the British,which was crushed,executing the 29 Indian soldiers,who revolted,by the Resident,John Munro.He implicated the ousted Dewan of Travancore,Ummini Thampi,and the imprisoned 'crown prince',Visakham Thirunal Kerala Varma,behind the conspiracy and sentenced them to death.Kerala Varma was the son of Princess Atham Thirunal of Mavelikara Arattukadavu Koyikkal palace.They originally were from the Chenga palace branch of Kolathunad,in Malabar.Maybe,the reason behind Munro relinquishing his Travancore job in 1814,is revealed in this(he remained an advisor,till 1819).

Here is the story from,History of Madras Army,Vol  III,by Lt Col W J Wilson,published in 1883(in this ,Ummini Thampi is Womanah Tumby and,Kerala Varma,Pichy Rajah;pichy for Pazhassi,not the original Pazhassi Raja)):

On the night of the 24th May,1812,the existence of a conspiracy at Quilon,having for its object the destruction of the European officers and men of the Subsidiary Force in Travancore,was brought to the knowledge of Lieutenant and Adjutant Cox of 2nd battalion of 14th regiment by Jamedar Lyaloo of the same battalion,to whom it had been revealed by a private(sepoy)of his company.

The Subsidiary Force,at this time,under the Command of Colonel Hamilton Hall,was composed of a company of European artillery,the 2nd battalion of 9th regiment,2nd of 11th regiment,3rd of the 14th and 2nd of the 18th regiment of native infantry.

On the morning of 25th,Colonel Hall and his officers in command of battalions met at the residency and it was there arranged that a general parade of the troops should be ordered for that afternoon,and that the principal conspirators should then be seized;the Resident,Lt Col John Munro took steps for the apprehension of such inhabitants of the town and vicinity,as were bribed,to be implicated.

These measures were successfully carried out.Jamedar Shaik Hossain of the 14th together with 2 havildars and 22 men of that battalion,were called out of the ranks and placed in confinement,the troops behaving with perfect steadiness.
Womanah Tumby, ex Dewan of Travancore,an individual claiming to be the nephew and representative of the late Pichy Raja,and several religious mendicants(fakirs),were seized at the same time by Resident's people as being the chief instigators.

Jamedar Shaik Hossain,and private(sepoy),Salabut Khan of the 14th were tried in a summary manner by a board of officers,of which Major Fraser of 2nd battalion of 9th regiment was president.Both were convicted and sentenced to be blown from a gun,which sentence was carried into execution,on the evening of 28th May,at a general parade of the whole force.

Quilon ( Kollam) in 1800s

Two havildars,one naik and 26 privates(sepoys)of the 14th regiment,of whom 19 were Mohammedans,and 10 hindus were tried by ordinary court martial,and sentenced to death.Of these,two privates were pardoned.The rest either shot or hanged.The sentences being carried out into execution at Quilon,Cannanore,Seringapatam,Trichinoply,Vellore and St Thomas Mount,respectively.

Six native officers,and one havildar of the 18th regiment ,two Pardon of native officers of the 9th,and one native officer of the 14th were also sentenced to death,but it was subsequently discovered that they had been falsely accused,and they were consequently pardoned and released,full belief in their innocence being expressed by the Commander in Chief in general orders.

Nothing transpired to prove that the conspiracy tended beyond the 2nd battalion of the 14th regiment.The 2nd of the 11th(22nd M N I)was specially reported as having,"manifested distinguished attachment and discipline", through out.

The result of the enquiries made by the Resident,which occupied some time,led him to the conclusion that Womanah Tumby ,the pseudo Pychy Raja and jamedar Shaik Hossain of the 14th regiment had been the originators of the conspiracy.

The design was to confer the sovereignty of Travancore upon the Pychy Raja.The jamedar was promised the office of Dewan;but all this,in all probability,was really intended for Womanah Tumby.The pay for all sepoys as might join in the plot was to be raised to rupees 10 per mensem.

The Chief body of conspirators consisted of discharged sepoys,fakeers and disaffected natives of the province.The European officers were to have been attacked while at dinner,and the barracks set on fire at the same time,in order to distract attention,after which the public treasury was to have been given up to plunder.

On the 18th February(1813),jamedar Lyaloo of the 14th was promoted to be subedar,and presented with a palanquin,and and an allowance for bearers.He also received a gold medal and a donation of 1000 rupees.At his decease,his nearest heir was to be allowed a pension of 35 rupees per mensem.

Vencatram,the sepoy who had informed the jamedar of the plot,was pensioned on the pay odf a jamedar,and received a donation of 600 rupees.

Private Hoosain Khan,who had given information to Captaion Lyes of the same battalion on 24th May,in rather an incoherent manner,was pensioned on the pay of a havildar.

Womanah Tumby,and the Pichy Raja were tried by the court of Travancore Government.The former was sentenced to death,but this sentence was commuted to banishment ,and he was removed to Nellore.The Pychy Raja was banished to Chengelpet,but he was released from confinement,in 1815.

kollam fort

The Mutiny was planned to be executed on May 22,1812;a report appeared in the 1812 November issue of The Scots Magazine & Edinburgh Literary Miscellany,Volume 74,page 860;it reported that,just before the departure of the ship,Doris from India,intelligence reached of a dangerous mutiny in Travancore,in the form of a letter from an officer at Quilon to his friend at Madras.It was dated,May 30.Though the magazine says it was a letter,from the content,it appears that it was an intelligence report to the highest authority.Here is the 'letter':

We have had as state prisoners,a Dewan of Travancore,lstely for some misdemeanor deposed;also a man called Pyche Raja.These together by bribery had corrupted a native officer of the 14th regiment of Infantry,and they engaged him to bring into their plans the greatest part of the native troops of Quilon;in a great measure succeeded.The Raja,the prime instigator,proposed that when sufficient members of sepoys came into their views ,to attempt the murder of all the European officers.

The 18th regiment was to be reviewed on a certain day,and that every officer in the Cantonment,the Resident included,were to dine at our mess in the evening.The supporters were to fell upon us,when assembled and to strike off  the head of every one.After that,they will be quiet till morning,on the appearance of which the drums were to beat to arms;and the three corps were to be thus disposed off:one was to march to southern lines;another to north;third to Arunghaut(Aralvaimozhi) pass,for the purpose of preventing the march of troops into the country.Several battalions to be raised,to possess Travancore.Lines were to be fired;If the officers left the mess,they intended to bayonet them.

This abominable and atrocious design was prevented only by the absence of one man,who had promised to make his appearance with 50 associates.  

Two days after,a sepoy overheard why it was not accomplished.(postponed to)Next public party, on June 4. The Commanding officer was informed.

The Brigade was immediately ordered out;the native officer was called to the front,with about 30 sepoys,by name of 14th regiment.Immediately put on irons and sent to main guard.

The following morning,a board of officers held,few sepoys gave evidence.They didn't implicate anyone.The following morning,a fakir called out a great member by name,from the 14th native officers;live from the 18th,2 or 3 (battalion)from the 11th(regiment)and 9th.Implicated some of the Resident's peons,natives of the place and several officers' servants.Nearly all sepoys of 14th and several from other corps were engaged.The man in charge of public committee bribed;many others too.

Quilon was in great agitation and alarm.It was deemed necessary to make an immediate example of one or two of ring leaders.All implicated native officers were sent immediately to Trichinopoly,under guard of 50 of Resident's peons,all under charge of a 14th officer.The 14th(regiment)was asked to leave Quilon,with European officers,and march to the same place.But 12 hours is too much;so were asked to march day befoe yesterday(28th)itself.

The troops were ordered under arms,and formed a line at 5'0 clock.3 guns were advanced to the front of the line,about 100 paces from centre;also a gun from each flank,the same distance.The latter were loaded with grape shot,and pointed towards the battalion;as it was expected the sepoys would make some opposition to the severe measures in contemplation.Two of the guns in the centre were only loaded with powder.Two prisoners,the jamedars and a writer were brought forward,and without ceremony,were lashed each to the muzzle of a gun.The troops,upon seeing this,were still as death-not a murmur-no,not a breath was heard-and at this awful crisis,(Alex) Balmain,the Brigade Major,read over the sentence awarded to the prisoners by the board of officers that sat in the morning,and the Colonel gave the words-"READY,FIRE!".An involuntary shudder ran through the whole line,but nothing more.The Colonel then informed the troops why he was obliged to have recourse to this severe measure,and ordered the whole line to march round the bodies,and return to their barracks.(Balmain's marriage was in 1819 March 2,to Jane,third daughter of Forrest Dewar,at Edinburgh).

This eyewitness account reveals that the reporter was not one among the troops;he was a commander,who watched the reaction of the troops.Maybe,Colonel Hamilton Hall himself,reporting to the Commander in Chief at Madras.Hamilton Hall had entered the Company's service in 1781,rose to the rank of Lt Colonel in 1807.He died on 12 May,1827,as Lt General,and as Commander of the Southern Division at Trichinopoly.There is Hall's road in Chennai,stretching from Casamajor road to Egmore high road-Hall had lived in Egmore.

The informant,in a couple of accounts,is Iyaloo,or Jallo.Iyaloo is a name,heard among Telugu Naidus.

Residency,Kollam

The important part in these accounts,is terming,Kerala Varma of Mavelikara,as Pazhassi Raja,to invoke the memory of another rebellion,deliberately.He has been called the pseudo nephew of Pazhassi Raja.He never belonged to Pazhassi/Kottayam in Malabar;he was from the Chenga branch of Kolathunad(Chirakkal).He was very close to Ummini Thampi and the murdered King,Balarama Varma.Ummini Thampi is suspected to be the man behind the murder,which took place on November 7,1810,days after the arrival of Munro as Resident.Kerala Varma,who claimed the throne,was denied it by Munro.Reigning Queen of Attingal,Lakshmi Bai was given the crown.Munro removed Thampi,from the position of Dewan.Both had reason to revolt.At the same time,when the mutiny was being planned,both of them were under house arrest.So the key player in the episode,is the person who failed the mutiny by not appearing on the scene,with 5o associates.He was never caught.

If Kerala Varma and Thampi were involved directly,they could have been hanged.Instead,Munro,who presided over the appeal court which gave them death sentence,wrote to the Madras Governor to commute the sentence.Maybe,Samuel Thamby,Ummini Thampi's brother,who became a Christian in 1811,played a part.Samuel Thamby was deprived of his property,by Nairs,and his palace allowance was stopped.He disappeared,mysteriously.

That,Kerala Varma was released from captivity,in 1815,says a lot.

The 14th regiment which plotted the assassination of Munro,was predominantly a Muslim regiment,and the two muslims,Sheikh Hussain and Salabut Khan,by their names,are not keralites.The chances of Thampi and Varma,engaging them are remote.

Pazhassi Raja had died 7 years ago;but the Vellore mutiny was 6 years ago.

What was Vellore mutiny?Sir John Cradock,the Commander in Chief,ordered wearing a round hat;the new dress included a leather cockade.This was intended to replace the existing turban.This offended sensibilities of both the hindu and muslim sepoys.Tipu Sultan's several wives and children were housed in a palace inside the Vellore Fort,and the nikah of a daughter was fixed on 9 July,1806.The sepoys selected that day for the mutiny-200 Britishers were killed.It frightened British officers all over India;a number of officers became skittish,inclined to see rebellion every where.

For Munro,he had just escaped Madras mutiny,as Quarter Master General in 1909,inside the army,against him,after his recommendation to abolish the tent contract system.

Maybe,Munro and the Quilon British officers read too much into the Quilon mutiny.Munro was waiting to implicate Thampi and Varma,and he made a suitable script.

I shuddered when  Hussain and Salabut were lashed to the muzzle of the gun.It would have affected,Munro more;hence,his exit from Travancore.

Thus,we learn the first sepoy mutiny was in Madras-1806. 

Reference:The Pioneer Protestant Missionary in Travancore/C M Augur

See my Post,TAMBARAM AND MURDER OF KING BALARAMA VARMA

 

 

TAMBARAM AND MURDER OF KING BALARAMA VARMA

The 'Crown Prince' was sentenced to Death
When Colonel John Munro arrived in October,1810 at Thiruvananthapuram, as Resident of Travancore,the first intrigue he had to deal with, was the murder of the reigning King Avittam Thirunal Balarama Varma and the issue of succession.The murder of the King happened on 7 November,1810,within days of  arrival of Munro,and for the first time, it took three months to decide on the new ruler;the practice till then,was to crown the successor immediately.
There was a 'crown prince' then:Visakham Thirunal Kerala Varma of Mavelikara Arattukadavil Koyikal family,which originally was a branch of the Chenga Palace of Kolathiri of Malabar.They had left Malabar,during the siege of Tipu Sultan.Kerala Varma, was the son of princess Atham Thirunal.

Colonel John Munro

The younger sisters of Atham Thirunal,Bharani Thirunal and Uthram Thirunal were adopted to the Attingal mother branch of the Travancore royal family in 1789 as Senior Queen and Junior Queen respectively;since Atham Thirunal was married at that time,she was not adopted,but she stayed with the sisters at Sripadam Palace,Thiruvananthapuram.The independent territory of Attingal had merged with Travancore in 1748,at the insistence of Marthanda Varma,by a Silver Plate Treaty,with the last Queen Pururuttathi Thirunal (death in 1788)which had a condition that,in the absence of an offspring in  Travancore,an unmarried girl should be adopted from Kolathunad to Attingal;the succession on the death of a King would descend to the elder son of the Queen of Attingal.These are the four clauses in the agreement:
1.Only unmarried princesses could be adoptees.2.that only the princesses of Kolathunad were eligible for adoption.3.that the adoptees would be members of the Attingal family.4.that the eldest male member born of the princesses so adopted would in due time rule as King.
It is evident from this treaty why Atham Thirunal and her son were not adopted;she was married and already had a son ,Kerala Varma.He didn't have legal claim to the throne.
When Dharmaraja Rama Varma was on the gaddi,the issue of the absence of a crown prince was raised,when the then crown prince Ravi Varma died,and only Balarama Varma remained.So,when Balarama Varma succeeded in 1782,on the death of Dharmaraja Rama Varma,there was no heir;the King was only 16.The move on the part of the King and his coterie to get his friend,Visakham Thirunal Kerala Varma to be adopted to Attingal,was thwarted by the Queen,Bharani Thirunal.She had two daughters:Ayilyam Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bai and Uthratathi Thirunal Gouri Parvathi Bai.Bharani Thirunal refused the adoption of Kerala Varma,since she expected a son any time,who could be the King.Lakshmi Bai used to call Kerala Varma,Annan,meaning,elder brother.
During Dharmaraja,the virtual ruler was,the Dewan or Prime Minister,Raja Kesavadas.When Balarama Varma succeeded,Kesavadas was poisoned to death and Jayantan Sankaran Nambudiri became the Dewan.He pressurized the Queen to adopt Kerala Varma, she agreed,and it was done in 1796.After that,she conceived,and had a son.But,when Bharani Thirunal died in 1808,Kerala Varma did the funeral rites.Gouri Lakshmi began staying at Nedumangad and Karthikapally.

Balarama Varma

Dewan Velu Thampi had committed suicide a year ago, in February ,1809,after a failed attempt to assassinate the Resident, Colonel Colin Macaulay.Ummini Thampi had assumed the position of Dewan,after Thampi's rebellion was crushed.His Prime Minister,Mallan Pillai had entered the shelter of Thampi at Mannadi,just before the suicide,to capture,Thampi.Only Thampi's younger brother,Raman Thampi was with him.Two brothers of Velu Thampi,Raman Thampi and Kumaran Thampi were jailed;Raman Thampi died in jail.Another brother,Kunjupiratti Thampi,escaped to Madras;he was captured there and jailed(few historians have said,Velu Thampi had a brother called Padmanabhan Thampi-it is wrong).
Kerala Varma was the sworn enemy of the new Dewan,Ummini Thampi;Kerala Varma was very friendly with  King Balarama Varma and was calling the shots.Velu Thampi used to take his orders;they had met thrice in Kollam,and had plotted against Macaulay.The final meeting was in November,1808,a month before the assassination attempt against Macaulay.He was on his way to Kumaranallur Temple,to take part in the Karthika festival.Thus,Kerala Varma was considered a man of intrigues, by the East India Company.They never liked him.
King Balarama Varma and Ummini Thampi,suspected each other;Ummini Thampi was denied access to the Commander of King's own guards,Subedar Kumara Pillai.That the King was virtually a hostage,has been recorded by the Resident of Thanjavur,William Blackburn,who administered Travancore,briefly,during Velu Thampi's rebellion.Ummini Thampi even refused to conduct the ritual of Murajapam,which was taking  place at an interval of six years.The King dismissed Ummini Thampi for this in October,1809-it could not be implemented by the King.Ummini Thampi,a drunkard,was very loyal to Resident,Macaulay.
Finally,Ummini Thampi conducted the ritual nominally,without inviting the King.
Ummini Thampi banished the King's favorite consort from Thiruvananthapuram,to her native place,Arumana.She was a spy of Velu Thampi,who had informed him of the plot to kill Subbayyan,the Kingdom's representative at the Residency.He,a favorite of Macaulay,was killed by mercenaries of the King and Kerala Varma,while  on a journey to meet Velu Thampi,in Kollam.

Balarama Varma(right)and Velu Thampi(left)

Macaulay wrote to the Madras Council,saying Kerala Varma had been brandishing a pistol,he acquired, to kill Ummini Thampi. The letter Macaulay wrote on December 06,1809,recommended the banishment of Kerala Varma, either to Mavelikara,or Alapuzha.The diary entry of Macaulay during the time,reveals that the usually belligerent Kerala Varma met Macaulay and broke down during the conversation.He was afraid that he would be poisoned.The Commander of the Subsidiary Force,Colonel H S Scott recorded that the King has devised a plot to kill Ummini Thampi.It was true.The King asked Ummini Thampi to call a conference at Thiruvananthapuram, to discuss administrative matters.A decision was made to kill Thampi,at Kazhakuttam,while on his way to Thiruvananthapuram,from his head quarters at Kollam.He was informed of the plot by Kerala Varma Thirumulpad of Cherthala,husband of Thampi's mother's sister,Parvathy Thankachi of Puthumana amma veedu.Irayimman Thampi,the poet was her son,and she was the daughter of Makayiram Thirunal Ravi Varma,younger brother of Dharmaraja.Thampi conducted the meet at Kollam itself.
A situation arose in which one would be murdered-the King or Thampi.
Munro arrived precisely at this point.
Though Munro was appointed as Resident on 10 March,1810,he could assume duty only in October,because of a mutiny in Madras Army,in which he was involved.In the army,a Major next becomes Colonel;but when Munro was just 27,from Major,he was promoted to the post of Quarter Master General,overlooking seniors.Colonel St Leger,who had commanded the army detachment from Trichinopoly against Velu Thampi, was one of the officers who protested.

George Barlow

As Quarter Master General,Munro sent a report,on June 30,1807,against the prevailing system of tent contract.This was a system in which a British Commander commanding a native corps,received a permanent monthly allowance,alike in peace and war,on condition of providing the men under him,with suitable camp equipage whenever required.This involved purchase of camping equipment s,which involved embezzlement by officers.Munro recommended abolition of this system and to compensate the Commanders with enhanced batta.This report,submitted to the Commander in Chief of Madras Army,Sir John Cradock,got leaked.Cradock had agreed to abolish the system.When the report became public,there was unrest in the army.Lt General Hay Macdowall,who succeeded Cradock,resented the report and placed Munro under arrest,to be court martialled by the succeeding Commander-he was leaving Madras.Munro appealed to the Madras Council,and was released by Governor General,George Barlow.Macdowall questioned the order and termed Munro writing directly to the Governor,as contempt of authority,and condemned him.This prompted a counter order from the Council,and there was mutiny.It was crushed on 23 August.Macdowall was lost at sea near Cape of Good Hope,in March,1809. Munro became quite unpopular among the officers.

John Cradock

On his arrival in Thiruvananthapuram,Munro met the King 2-3 times immediately.Within days,the King died of dysentery.He was poisoned.The Prime Minister,Mallan Pillai,a loyalist of Thampi,wrote to the Governor George Barlow that Munro's own physician was treating the King,meaning,Munro killed the King.Munro,while retaining Thampi as Dewan,had divested him of his powers.Mallan Pillai,thus had an axe to grind.
The very next day,after the murder of the King,Lakshmi Bai rushed from Karthikapally to Thiruvananthapuram and met Munro,in the Residency at Poonthura.It was Macaulay who had shifted the Residency to a commercial building at Poonthura.They brought the Silver Plate agreement of Marthanda Varma to the notice of Munro and argued that Kerala Varma's adoption was not proper;he thus,should not be allowed to succeed Balarama Varma.Instead,she,Lakshmi Bai,as the eldest daughter of the erstwhile queen of Attingal,was the rightful heir.Kerala Varma should not be allowed to do even the obsequies!
There was an impasse.
Munro asked the Ettarayogam,the administrative body of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple,to take a decision.Marthanda Varma had done something called,thrippadi danam in the temple,whereby,the royal family and the King were just the representatives of the God.It was,politically a clever ploy to cheat the Company-if the Company moves against a King,it would be a move against the God!
On the fourth day after the murder,Ettarayogam met inside the Temple,since the presiding officer,Pushpanjali Swamiyar,was not allowed to move out. Tantri Tharananallur Nambudiripad,scholars and Hindu leaders were also invited to the meet.When a decision was made,they rang the temple bell and read out the decision:Kerala Varma was adopted to the Attingal family 12 years ago;males have been adopted to the royal family,even before.Queen Aswathy Thirunal Umayamma had adopted Kottayam Kerala Varma.Marthanda Varma's nephew,Rama Varma was adopted from Kolathunad along with his two sisters.So,Kerala Varma,should be the new King.
Munro agreed to convey the decision to the Madras Council.Till a final decision, Tantri was asked to do the King's religious duties.
Meanwhile,Munro shifted the Residency from Poonthura to Krishnan Kovil Thopu,at Manacaud.Princess Lakshmi,who was just 19,became a frequent visitor there(her sister was just 9).The People nick named the place,Sinkarathopu, or the romantic avenue.Munro,fearing a scandal and the backlash,shifted the Residency,to Nilakkamukku,6 kilometers away from Attingal.Thus,he moved away from Thiruvananthapuram.
Munro had also banished Rajaraja Varma Koyil Thampuran,husband of Lakshmi to his native place,Changanacherry.We do not know whether it had anything to do with a romantic interlude.That poor husband was definitely not a history sheet er.

Queen Lakshmi Bai

Apart from being the Resident,Munro had been the Dewan too,in both Travancore and Cochin.I have read the long letters of Munro,regarding  this to the Madras Council-in the letters,Munro observes,both the Queen of Travancore and King of Cochin said there is no one who has the right credentials to fill the post of Dewan,and they requested Munro to take up that post too.I began suspecting Munro first,after reading these letters.We always had Dewans from Madras.So there is no substance in saying,there is no one efficient in the respected native countries.Munro,definitely had his own game.
He dragged the succession  issue for three months,though the Madras Council had already conveyed a decision,prompted by Munro.
The King had to be present for all the important rituals in the temple.The Bhadradeepa prathishta was done by the Tantri;Kerala Varma was called for Rohini pattathanam, giving a hint on the successor.Ettarayogam went for Munro's jugular,when they insisted on a successor,to raise the flag for the temple festival,of Meenam 18.Munro replied that a decision was made on the the 3rd itself,and Kerala Varma can collect the order from the Residency.Varma went happily,but was flabbergasted,when he read the order.It said, his adoption was invalid,and,Lakshmi,is the successor!
Varma was arrested there itself,sent to Vadakke palace as a hostage.He was sent to Thalassery ,and then to a small village near Madras.He was not allowed to take part in the first death anniversary ceremony of Balarama Varma and he was not allowed to see his grand mother,when she wished.

Rajaraja Varma

A conspiracy was hatched by some people in the Kollam military camp,in May,1812,to assassinate the Resident.In the conspiracy led by Jamedar Sheikh Hussain,two Havildars,one Naik,26 soldiers and one Fakir took part.The decision was to kill the British officers on May 22,while they were having dinner-it didn't take place because of the absence of one person.They had plotted to set fire to the barracks.Their intention,it was said,was to make Kerala Varma the King and, for a brief period, to retain Ummini Thampi, as Dewan.Thampi would be replaced by Hussain,later.
During the trial,several names who were behind the conspiracy,cropped up,including,Kerala Varma,Ummini Thampi,the crown prince of Karthikapally,the Cochin King and the Queen of Travancore.Sheikh Hussain,19 Muslims and 10 Hindus were executed after the trial.Kerala Varma and Ummini Thampi  were sentenced to death by the appeal court,presided by Munro.But the Resident in him wrote to the Council to waive the sentence,to life imprisonment.
Ummini Thampi was deported to Chengalpet and then to Nellore,as hostage.He wished to take his consort Uma,along with him,which the Queen shot down;she had become his arch rival.Ummini Thampi's brother was converted as Samuel Thampi,by Ringeltaube,the first missionary.Ummini Thampi was the grand son of Dharmaraja's younger brother,Makayiram Thirunal Ravi Varma,who died in 1786.Ravi Varma had a consort in Puthumana house.Her only daughter ,Parvathi Pillai married Kerala Varma of Cherthala Palace.Irayimman Thampi (real name Ravi Varman),the poet, is her son.Ummini Thampi(real name,Iravi Marthandan Thampi),was,the son of, Irayimman Thampi's mother's sister.There is every chance that this sister was not from Puthumana,since,Makayiram Ravi Varma had a single daughter from his Puthumana consort.English records say,Ummini is the son of Dharmaraja!

Rukmini Bai

Lakshmi Bai (1791-1815),died at the ripe age of 24.She had become weak after she delivered her second son,Uthram Thirunal,who became King during 1846-1860.Of course,her first son was,the great Swati Thirunal.She had a daughter too:Gouri Rukmini Bai ,born in 1809.Lakshmi Bai was Queen for three years,during,1810-1813.She was Regent from 1813 till her death in 1815,for Swati Thirunal.The marriage of her sister,the Junior Queen,Parvathi Bai ,was celebrated at Attingal,in 1813.Rajaraja Varma belonged to the Neerazhi Kovilakam in Changanacherry,which had originally come from Parappanad,Malabar,during Tipu's siege of Malabar.He was a poet and translator,with equal fluency in English and Sanskrit.Queen Lakshmi built the Lakshmipuram Palace at Changanacherry,for him and members of his family.His daughter,Rukmini Bai married Thiruvalla Paliakara Punartham Thirunal Rama Varma.
Munro left Travancore in 1819,to Scotland.Returned in 1924 to Madras and became Major General.He left service after a fever,went back to Scotland in 1831,bought his brother Captain Hew's estate and re opened the distillery of malt whisky , there. 
Munro leaving Travancore,has some mystery to it;during 1817-1820,the whole of Kerala was surveyed for natural resources and land patterns by Lieutenants Ward and Conner.A Conservator was appointed for the first time,to monitor the falling of timber and cardamom inside the forest.The first independent Conservator of Forests in Travancore,was,Munro's son,Urban Verres Munro.There would have been definitely a conflict of interest,if Munro had continued,as Resident.U V Munro's son,John Daniel Munro, was Superintendent of Forests,later.
The small village,where Kerala Varma stayed near Chennai, came to be known as,Thamburan Puram,and later,Tambaram.
Reference:
1.Dewan Velu Thampi & the British/Dr B Sobhanan
2.Ummini Thampi/T K Vijayamohan/Journal of Kerala Studies Vol V
3.A Little Known Event in the History of Travancore/B N Mehta/Journal of Indian History,Vol XXIX part I
4.British Diplomacy and Administration in India-1807/S R Bakshi
5.The White Mutiny/Sir Alexander Cardew
6.My posts on this blog,Chempil Arayan's Attack on Macaulay,Murder of Raja Kesavadas, and,The Rise and Fall of Thachil Mathu Tharakan   
7.Essays on Travancore/Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer
  
SEE MY POST,VELU THAMPI,PEPPER AND MACAULAY