BHARATI,BARRISTER AND VIDUTHALAI

The Song was Composed on George's Veranda

In the introduction to the patriotic song,Viduthalai,of Subramanya Bharati, S Sowmya says, her Guru,Dr S Ramanathan had told her that the song was composed in Pondicherry,inspired by the French national anthem.It is not so.While it is true that Bharatiyar had escaped to the French ruled Pondicherry in 1908 and remained there till 1918,the song was composed in the Madurai home of Barrister George Joseph,who was practicing there.While the life of Bharatiyar is well known,only  few Malayalis remember the Christian nationalist,George Joseph,who was in jail with Jawahar Lal Nehru,who had led the Vaikam Satyagraha and who was,Editor of,Gandhi's Young India.

That wonderful moment in the life of Bharatiyar,is recorded in the biography,George Joseph:The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist,by George Gheverghese Joseph,grandson of George,who also wrote the famous, The Crest of the Peacock,on the non European roots of Mathematics.
SONG:VIDUTHALAI/SUBRAMANYA BHARATI/S SOWMYA

I quote from the book:
Living during such an eventful period of Indian history,Bharati threw himself into the freedom struggle,using his poetic gifts to arouse the people.One of his songs,Viduthalai,Viduthalai(Let Go,Let Go),became the clarion call for freedom from foreign rule.The back ground to the composition of this song is interesting.The few years before his death in 1921 were years of great hardship and poverty ,induced partly by the restrictions on his movements by the government and partly by his opium addiction.It was during this period that Bharati practically lived on the veranda of the Joseph residence in Madurai.Susannah had a soft corner for this otherworldly charming poet and looked after him as if he were a member of the family.She recalls the time when Bharati rose as if from a trance,shouting in Tamil to all present,"Kottada,Kai Kottada!"("Clap! Clap your hands!") and then went on to sing as he composed,Viduthalai.
It is from this book I came to know that Bharatiyar was an addict to opium.I also felt that the family could have promoted him from the veranda,though it is the safe place for an addict!(Viduthalai means Freedom,not Let Go).

Bharati with wife Chellamma

Subramanya Bharati(1882-1921),within a short span of 39 years,left an indelible mark as a poet on Tamil nationalism,and he was first an Indian,then a Tamil.He was fortunate to have been  born in Ettayapuram,and to be recognized as a poet at the early age of 11,and to become the court poet of the Raja of Ettayapuram,because it was in that court,the Dikshitar brothers sang and played Violin.Subramanyan,son of Chinna Swamy Subramanya Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal,was accorded the title,Bharati,there itself.His mother died when he was just 5,and father,two years later.He married a seven year old Chellamma in 1898 and was in Kasi,till 1902,before becoming a teacher and Assistant Editor of Swadesa Mitran,in 1904.Meeting Sister Nivedita,disciple of Swami Vivekananda in 1905 was a turning point,and he considered her,his Guru.He attended the Congress sessions of Kolkata(1906) which demanded Swaraj for the first time,and Surat(1907),which saw the fight between the militant faction of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo with the moderates.Bharati was with the militants,which comprised Kappalottiya Thamizhan, V O Chidambaram Pillai and Kanchi Venkatachariyar.He gave evidence in the case framed by the British against Pillai and with the prospect of being arrested,escaped to Pondicherry.He met with Aurobindo and V V S Iyer when they arrived at Pondicherry in 1910.

When Bharati reached Pondicherry,George Joseph was doing Law at Middle Temple,London and he returned as Barrister to India in 1909,and married Susanna,forgetting his love in Britain,Mary Caldwell.His mother had threatened to commit suicide,if he married her.
George(1887-1938)was the eldest of 9 children of Oorayil C I Joseph of Chengannur,an Engineer and Saramma in the former princely state of Travancore in Kerala.Never a brilliant student,he studied FA  in Madras Christian College,and knowing his hate for distant places,his father told him,if he passes,he can continue in the same college,but if he fails,he would be sent to Britain.He failed and celebrated it by jumping from a hay stack.He was the first Syrian Christian to go to Britain for higher studies;he went in  1904 along with K P Gopala Menon,brother of K P S Menon.When both were invited by Prof Asquith,Principal of CMS College,Kottayam,both went with younger brothers,Pothan Joseph and KPS Menon,giving the Asquith family a surprise,and the younger brothers sipped tea,from the saucer,for the embarrassment of  the family.Though K PS Menon poured the tea back into the cup,Pothan Joseph continued sipping from the saucer,and took it to great heights,by naming his column,Over a Cup of Tea,when he became a celebrated Editor.  George did MA Philosophy at University of Edinburgh,where Prakash Karat studied,years later.He did Law at Middle Temple,London.He set up law practice first at Madras,edited South India Mail, and then,at the advise of criminal lawyer Gopala Menon, shifted to Madurai.He modeled himself on famous lawyer,the founding member of the Congress,Eardley Norton,who had appeared for the accused including Aurobindo,in the Alipore conspiracy case, and became a reputed criminal lawyer.He vehemently opposed the Criminal Tribes Act(CTA)of the British which branded certain communities like Piramalai Kallars and Maravars,as criminals. He joined the Home Rule movement and was selected by Annie Besant in 1918,as part of a three member delegation to speak in Britain on home rule.Syed Hussain,whom Vijya Lakshmi Pandit loved(Gandhi was against that affair;she later used to offer floral tribute to him at his qabr in Cairo) and B V Narasimhan were the other members and the three were arrested at Gibraltar and deported to India.When P Varadarajulu Naidu was arrested for making a speech at Victoria Edward Library Hall,Madurai,George assisted C Rajagopalachari who appeared in the case and Naidu was exonerated.He organized the textile mill workers in and around Madurai.

George Joseph

Rajaji introduced George to Gandhi on March 22, 1919 at Madras,and when Gandhi visited Madurai on March 26,stayed at the house of George.Gandhi spoke at a widely attended public meeting against the Rowlett Act on 29th.  At Gandhi's instigation,George threw off his roaring practice and went to North India.He moved closely with the giants of freedom struggle for four years.Motilal Nehru selected him to edit The Independent,at Allahabad and was soon arrested on sedition charges on December 6,1921,and one of his prison-mates was Jawaharlal Nehru.On his release two years later,he was chosen by Gandhi to edit his weekly,Young India,succeeding, Rajaji.He took charge on September 27,1923,and worked only for six months.He returned to Kerala next year,with growing disenchantment with the factionalism within congress coupled with the illness of his wife,and he found himself in the midst of Vaikam Satyagraha.The issue was that the dalits were not permitted on the Siva temple roads although,Christians and Muslims were allowed.George was arrested,and while he was undergoing six months imprisonment,the Nairs in the Congress complained to Gandhi against a Christian leading a movement,around the temple. Gandhi lent his ears to those casteist forces,and wrote to George:I think that you should let the Hindus do the work.It is they who have to purify themselves.You can help by your sympathy and by your pen,but not by organizing the movement and certainly not by offering satyagraha.
The casteist in Gandhi was out,and,George,disillusioned with Gandhi,joined the Justice Party,but returned to the Congress in 1935.

Bharatiyar

He corresponded with B R Ambedkar on Vaikam Satyagraha and mass conversion and wrote in The Hindu,an article,Gandhiji's New Formula,criticizing his actions on Khadi,Salt Act and prohibition.
It was after his return to Madurai from Travancore,he met Bharati.Though George had distanced himself from Gandhi,he maintained his friendship with Kamaraj; they  organized a mass rally against Simon Commission's visit to Madurai,in 1929,and Varadarajulu Naidu and George appeared for Kamaraj,when he was implicated in the Virudhunagar conspiracy case(1933).George,at this time,received a post card from Gandhi,in which he  asked:Oh George Joseph,why you have forsaken me?Of Gandhi's vision of a future India,George had remarked:Some call it Gandhiraj,others,Swaraj.In reality,it is Hindu Ramaraj.George was very sceptical of Gandhi's claim that his 'inner voice' acted as his conscience.

Statue of George

His disappointments in his political life were accentuated by his failure to win two elections,as a result of caste and religious parochialism and he began dabbling in Roman Catholicism and its medieval cultural baggage.After his return to Congress,he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly from the Madurai/Ramnad/Tirunelveli constituency,unopposed,in 1937.He attended just one session,died in Madurai on 5 March,1938.Gandhi wrote to Susannah:I have before me your most pathetic and humane letter.I have seen your longer and fuller letter to Mahadev Desai.You must not grieve.That will show lack of faith in God.He gives and takes away.And surely it is with Joseph.You will come to me whenever you can and want to.You shall remain a dear daughter and more so;if possible,now that Joseph is no more in our midst in the flesh.Love to you and children-Bapu.
 

Gandhi's letter to Susanna

Incidentally,it was on his visit to Madurai,in 1925,and in the house of George,Gandhi  took the historic decision to switch over to his trade mark loin cloth,after he found,people coming for his darshan,were bare footed and bare bodied,except for a dhoti, around their waist.The decision came after the public meeting at Thiagaraja College.Recently when I visited Madurai,I was shocked at the sight of the blood stained cloth of Gandhi,which he wore at the time of his assassination,at the Gandhi Memorial.I was not prepared to see the cloth,because I had thought,it would be in Rajghat,Delhi.
In 1966,a statue of George Joseph was erected at the Yanaikkal Junction in Madurai.Every year,on his death anniversary,the Piramalai Kallars tribe offer flower tribute to him-they still name their children,Rosapoo or Rosappa Durai, in honour of Joseph.Maybe it is a mispronunciation of Joseph,or it is remembrance of the rose flower on his lapel.
Coming back to Sowmya,she was partly right,when she said Bharati was inspired by the French national Anthem.It is very militant,and it says:

Arise! Children of the Fatherland!
The Day of Glory has Arrived!
..................................
To Arms Citizens!
Form Your Batallions
Let us March!Let us March!
So that the impure Blood
Waters our Fields!
Bharati's Viduthalai,Viduthalai,rhymes like the French,Marchons,Marchons(Let us March).
SONG:THE FRENCH NATIONAL ANTHEM/LA MARSEILLAISE

Our national anthem,Jana Gana Mana,was,originally the anthem of Indian National Army(INA),of Subash Chandra Bose,and it was selected and rushed by Nehru,when the United Nations asked for the national anthem.  
This post is dedicated to Sowmya,who grew up at Ambalamedu close to my place,Tripunithura,near Cochin,Kerala.Her father,Dr Srinivasan was a Chemical Engineer at FACT,if I remember right,what she said during the MDR commemorative  concert at Tripunithura.
Reference:
1.George Joseph:The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist/George Gheverghese Joseph
2.M K Gandhi/Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi/XXIII/page 391-Gandhi's letter on Vaikam Satyagraha
3.Unions in Conflict:A Comparative Study of Four South Indian Textile Centres 1918-1993/Eamon Murphy
4.Barrister George Joseph:A Memoir/Maya Thomas
5.George Joseph and the National Struggle for Freedom/R Renjini

                                                                    Bharati Signature


See my Post,PARASURAMA,DALITS AND THE ART OF AXING








 

 

A KING MARRIES HIS STEWARD'S WIFE

But she was a Dewan's Daughter

When Dharmaraja shifted the capital of Travancore from Padmanabhapuram,to Thiruvananthapuram,in 1795,he shifted his four wives too,building palaces for them in the west Fort.The males in the family were instructed from then on,to take consorts from those families alone:Arumana,Vadsseri,Thiruvattar and Nagercoil.Exceptions became the rule,and it reached its zenith during the reign of Ayilyam Thirunal(1860-1880),notorious for his amorous escapades,and drunken bashes.But something very rare happened then-violating the practice,he married a Nair woman from Cochin.She was Kalyanikutty Amma,daughter of the former Valiya Sarvadhikaryakkar,or Prime Minister of Cochin,Nadavarambu Kunjukrishna Menon.

Kalyanikutty

From my childhood onwards,Kunju Krishna Menon had been a mysterious character,after reading,Paliath Achan's efforts to assassinate Menon.It was very difficult to ferret out details then,but details began to over flow,when a research was made into Velu Thampi Dalawa's attempt to kill the Resident,Colin Campbell Macaulay.

Menon belonged to Nadavarambu,in Irinjalakuda and as Sarvadhikaryakkar,or Chief Secretary ,was a favorite of the King of Cochin,Vellarapalliyil Theepetta Thampuran,Rama Varma X(1805-1809).As second in Command,in administration,he was a natural rival to the Chief Minister,Paliath Govindan Achan.Sakthan Thampuran(1790-1805),had crushed the earlier powerful Paliath Achan,and had sent him away.Sakthan Thampuran had advised,before his death,his successor Rama Varma X,not to involve Paliath Achans any more,in administration.The scheming Dewan Velu Thampi of Travancore prevailed upon Rama Varma to reinstate Paliath Govinda Menon,met the King at Tripunithura, Macaulay,then a close friend of Velu Thampi, supported him,and Achan was in the gaddi again.Achan took reins of the country,shifted the King to Vellarapally,a remote village,in Chowara,on the other bank of Aluva,and kept him under house arrest.

Achan found,Nadavarambu Kunju Krishna Menon,blocking him,in his moves to usurp the throne,and the King asked Macaulay to protect Menon by keeping him,with him,at the Residency,Bolgatty Palace.Macaulay,who liked the the talents of Menon agreed.When Achan asked Menon to surrender,Macaulay refused to let him go.

Ayilyam Thirunal

Achan invited rivals in the Cochin camp,Govinda Menon,Commandant,and Minister,Raman Menon to Chendamangalam,to solve the disputes amicably,and both were caught en route,and drowned in Cranganore river.He was waiting for Kunjukrishna Menon.

It was in this back drop,Velu Thampi and Achan found help in each other;Thampi had thought,by killing Macaulay,he could be able to win freedom.Thus the joint forces attacked the Bolgatty Palace,on the night of December 28,1808.Menon,who was staying with Macaulay,had gone to Mattancherry,and Macaulay concealed himself in a lower chamber,and escaped in the morning,after Menon joined him,in a ship,Peacemont.They later shifted to Snow,in the outer sea,and stayed there for few weeks,till the Travancore Nair rebellion was crushed.The Cochin King died within a fort night,and Veera Kerala Varma(1809-1828), known as,Virulam Thampuran,or Karkadakathil Theepetta Thampuran,took over,and made,Menon,Valiya Sarvadhikaryakkar(1809-1812).The British deported Achan to Bombay;when they found him,absconding,  in Thrissur,he was taken forcibly to Bombay.He remained there for 12 years,and died in Varanasi.

Anantha Lakshmi

Within a few months,the King fell out with Menon,finding him,inexperienced,arbitrary and self willed.Menon pursued his enemies with,vindictive ferocity.He took no steps to pay subsidy arrears or indemnity,due to the British.Though,the King complained to Macaulay,no action was taken.When Macaulay was recalled,after publicly hanging the dead body of Velu Thampi on a gibbet,Col John H Munro,Resident Dewan of Travancore,took charge in Cochin too,and the King,approached him with corruption charges against Menon.Munro,while he was Collector in Kozhikode,had been attracted by the efficiency of two brothers,Raman Menon and Krishna Menon,sons of Kunjulakshmi Amma of Narikkad family,Kuruva,Angadippuram.Mankada Raja,Kunjunni Thampuran,who married her,had died early.Krishna Menon was a village officer at Chittur/Nenmara,and Raman Menon,was assistant to Kunjukrishna Menon,at Cochin.When Munro ordered an inquiry against Menon,Raman Menon was able to protect his boss,by setting records favorably.The vindictive King removed the brothers from service,and confiscated their property.

Govindan Achan

Ultimately,Kunju Krishna Menon was pensioned off,in June,1812.At the time of his retirement,the state was in debt to the extent of Rs 600,000.

I have gone into  these details,to tell you that the popular theory of Nadavarambu  Kunjukrishna Menon's daughter marrying King Ayilyam Thirunal,spread by vested interests,as a bonding between the two kingdoms,is wrong.His daughter married Ayilyam Thirunal,only in 1862,5o years after Menon was pensioned off.She was born in 1839,27 years after he was retired.Kalyanikutty was the only daughter of Menon and Cheranallur Mathripilli Lakshmi Amma.

Ayilyam Thirunal had married,before he became King,his uncle,King Uthram Thirunals's daughter,Madhavi, of Thiruvattar,in 1854.She died within few years.It was after this,the King fell for Eswara Pillai Vicharippukar s,wife Kalyanikutty.So,she was already married to a palace steward.In return,Eswara Pillai became the proud owner of the vast Punnakkal property,to the west of Padmanabha Swamy Temple,inside the Fort.The area itself is known as Punnakkal.Pillai had entered palace service,during Uthram Thirunal.He was an acclaimed Kathakali actor,who led the Kathakali Yogam,the first Kathakali Truoupe in the State,formed by Uthram Thirunal,and with the King's prodding,started a printing press,Kerala Vilasam,in 1852,the first press owned by an individual.Several unpublished classics saw light of the day,from the press,including,Ulsava Prabandham(1853)and Anpathinalu Divasathe Attakathakal(1857).

King Sree Moolam Thirunal too kept up this tradition,when he married in 1899,Karthyayani of Kaipilli,Palkulangara,wife of palace servant,Sankaran.Sankaran in turn,became influential,got the title of Thampi,and he married Karthyayani's younger sister,who was in love with Narayana Kurukkal,Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai's Guru.This was the basic reason for Pillai to rebel against the King.

After three years of marriage,in 1865,Kalyanikutty was adopted into Nagercoil amma veedu,meaning,she was just a concubine,for three years.The marriage with Eswara Pillai,was dissolved.Along with Kalyanikutty,the King adopted two nieces and one nephew of her,as his children.One niece,Anantha Lakshmi(daughter of Kunjulakshmi) was married to Ayilyam Thirunal's nephew,Sree Moolam Thirunal,in 1879,and records say,the other(daughter of Karthyayani) married a Thirumulpad and a son,Nagercoil Achyuthan Thampi.Anantha Lakshmi died at child birth,in 1882.Kalyanikutty was a Sanskrit scholar who wrote poems and plays,and was a minor celebrity,as wife of the King.Her works include,Rasakrida,Satyapanchakam,Pativratapanchakam and Ambareeshacharitham.She died,issue less,in 1909.

John Munro

The first commission given to Raja Ravi Varma,by Ayilyam Thirunal was,Kalyanikutty's portrait.The King commissioned the English painter,Theodore Jensen for a portrait of his wife and him,but the painter was annoyed,when they gave only separate sittings.The King was barred from appearing with a Sudra wife publicly.

There is a sub text to the story:Ankarath Raman Menon,who was removed by the King of Cochin,was made an advocate in Kollam Kutcheri by Munro. He became a Judge at Alapuzha and finally Dewan Peshkar, a Dalawa and  Dewan of Travancore in 1815-1817,when Sanku Annavi Pillai retired. He had fallen out with Munro,after he took to task,Chief of Forests,Captain Gordon.Remembering the ill treatment he got in Cochin,as Dewan, he raked up a dormant border dispute case between Travancore and Cochin,in which Cochin was definite to lose territory.The dreadful Cochin King ,learning a person from Cochin has turned against Cochin,sent a messenger to Menon, asking to meet him.Raman Menon refused ,saying he is now a Padmanabha dasa,and can meet another King only if the Regent Queen sends him.Raja of Cochin sent a letter,Regent Gowri Lakshmi Bayi agreed and Raman Menon was received by the Raja at the border with state honors,gave his family,the title,Mannadi Nair,or Mannadiyar.The King gave a Veerasringhala to Krishna Menon,re instated him, as Tahsildar at Chittur/Nenmara,and gave back the confiscated Ankarath tharavad property.

A R Pillai(1880-1938),Indian expatriate,who worked for Indian freedom in Germany,as writer,Journalist and publisher,was closely related to Eswara Pillai.His mother was the niece of Eswara Pillai.

Reference:

1.The Cochin State Manual/C Achyutha Menon
2.Sarvadhikaryakkar P Govinda Pilla/P Damodaran Nair
Note:The portrait of Anantha Lakshmi,by P Mukundan Thampi

See my Post,A GREAT POET AS HOSTAGE IN TRAVANCORE

 

CHEMPIL ARAYAN'S ATTACK ON MACAULAY

Chempil Arayan was Admiral of the Fleet in Travancore

The joint adventure of the Dewan of Travancore,Velu Thampi, and the Chief Minister of Cochin,Paliyath Achan,Govinda Menon, against the Resident of Travancore and Cochin,Colin Campbell Macaulay(1760-1836)and their attempt to kill him,in 1808,also saw the Chempil Arayan leading the attack.He was Admiral of the fleet of the Travancore King,Balarama Varma,who had fallen out with the Resident.Both the King and the Dewan thought that the British rule was coming to an end,and killing the Resident would herald freedom.The King of Cochin,in whose territory,the attempt was made,was a silent witness.Macaulay was residing at the Bolgatty Palace,the Residency.

Bolgatty Palace,Macaulay's Residency

Though the name of Arayan has been masked by most of the Kerala historians,the British biographical sketches of Macaulay,do mention,the attempt was by Chempil Anantha Padmanabhan Valiya Arayan Kankumaran.His ancestral home is close to the house of popular Malayalam actor,Mammootty,and the actor's ancestral family was Arayan's tenants,once.Arayan was the first to respond to the Kundara Proclamation of Velu Thampi.

Colin Macaulay,son of a priest,Rev.John Macaulay,minister of the Church of Scotland,was one among 12 children.His grand father,Rev.Aulay was also a Presbyterian minister.Both were involved in the attempt to turn the fugitive,Charles Edward Stewart,over to the authorities,in 1746.Zachary Macaulay,colonial Governor and abolitionist,was Colin's brother,and Thomas Babington Macaulay,the great historian and Whig politician,known as Lord Macaulay,was Zachary's elder son.Indians know Lord Macaulay,Colin's nephew,better,as the first Law member of the Governor General's Supreme Council,who called Sanskrit history trash,in his A Minute on Indian Education,1835.

Thalakkulam Valiya Veedu,Velu Thampi's Home,Thucklay

Colin entered the Indian army of East India Company, was captured by Hyder Ali in 1830 and imprisoned for 4 years,withMajor General David Baird,who later oversaw the siege of Srirangapattana.Colin lived in squalor and barbarity in Prison.In 1799,he was Secretary to Political and Diplomatic Mission,headed by Arthur Wellesley,which accompanied General Harris,on invasion of Mysore.Colin was present at the capture of Srirangapattana.Colin was involved in the controversy surrounding the dismissal of George Vaughan Hart,Commissary of grain to the army of Mysore,for alleged peculation,or misappropriation of public fund,and later sought to vindicate his conduct,in,Two Letters to Lord Harris(1816).Arthur Wellesley's brother,Lord Richard Wellesley,Governor General of Bengal,appointed Colin,Resident of Travancore and Cochin,in 1800,the first Resident,after the treaty of 1795.He was a Major in rank.He proved a failure within a year,as Commander in Palayamkottai,when Veerapandya Kattabomman and other revolutionaries,escaped from the near by prison,while he was having dinner in his Bungalow.Those who escaped,went to Panchalamkurichi,rebuilt the Fort within no time,and the attack on them by Macaulay's forces on March 30,1801 became futile.Macaulay was 'allowed' to resign the command and proceed to Bengal,but Wellesly protected him.The Command was given to Colonel Agnew and Macaulay returned to Thiruvananthapuram.He had his knuckles wrapped 4 years later for making,'unguarded','imperfect' statement of a transaction concerning tobacco.Henry Powney,Resident at Colombo, complained against Colin,in 1804,and asked for compensation,for sustaining losses,when he was forbidden  to import tobacco to Travancore.The Government of Madras took grave exception at Colin's action,but,Governor General Wellesley was anxious to protect his brother's friend, Colin,pardoning the indiscretion,and he continued,till,1810,when he went back to London citing, 'health' reasons.

Veluthampi was very cordial with Macaulay,for 7 years,in his tenure of 10 years in Travancore.The King Balarama Varma hated Macaulay from the beginning onwards,because,Macaulay expressed his displeasure in the absence of the Dewan,in the first meeting.The King,asked the Samprathi(Head,Finance),in Malayalam:Iyalkku Dewan Undenkil Mathrame Nakku Pongukayullo?(his tongue will wag,only if Dewan is there,is it?).The King even didn't like the friend ship between Macaulay and Velu Thampi,who had buit a Residency at Kollam,for Macaulay,shifting himself to Kollam,from Alapuzha.Kollam became the administrative capital.The King was involved only in religious activities.Using his influence on Macaulay,Velu Thampi reinstated Paliath Achan in Cochin,where,Sakthan Thampuran had removed the powerful Komi Achan from minister ship,in 1779.The King who succeeded Sakthan,Rama Varma X,was weak.The Achan,Govindan Valiyachan, was also new,the one whom Sakthan considered his enemy,had died.Velu Thampi,visited the King in Tripunithura Palace,to realize his plan.Achan took over the reins,and Velu Thampi sent a detachment of Travancore troops to guard the King at the Tripunithura palace,thus making him a hostage.

Govindan Valiyachan,Paliyam,the plotter

Things went on as usual between Macaulay and Velu Thampi,for two years,even after the treaty of 1805.The King had written to the Governor General,Cornwallis, to remove Macaulay.Thampi fell out with Macaulay on the question of paying  extra tribute,as per the new treaty.Balarama Varma had paid the entire tribute of 42,914 pounds,from 1798,till,1805.In the 1805 treaty,the tribute was enhanced by 4 lakhs,which remained unpaid,due to the King's resentment.Velu Thampi found himself between Scylla and Charybdis,between the King and the Resident.In 1807 February,Macaulay became aggressive on the unpaid extra tribute,writing a strong letter to the King's representative in the Residency,Subbayyan,who was playing games against Velu Thampi.In the letter,Macaulay threatened to throw the Dewan , into the sea,at Valiyathura,and to remove the King from the throne.

Sword of Velu Thampi

When Velu Thampi got information on Subbayyan's intrigues from his wife's house of Arumana,he called Subbayyan to Alapuzha.He was killed by the King sending mercenaries,and,news was spread that Subbayyan died of,'snake bite'.Ramalinga Muthaliyar,Secretary,Commerce,who had encouraged the fearful Subbayyan to go to Alapuzha,fled to Cochin,from Thiruvananthapuram.

Velu Thampi wrote to the Governor General,Lord Minto,against Macaulay,in June,1808,his first letter to him.In the reply,he was advised to write through the Resident .The shocked Velu Thampi,wrote a letter of apology to Macaulay,saying,he was acting only on the instructions of the King.He sent coins worth 60,ooo with the letter,and then Dr Kenneth Macaulay,Macaulay's brother's son,on October 30,met the King for arrears.He insisted the tribute should be paid at once,a demand the King rejected.Velu Thampi met Dr Kenneth at Kollam, and guaranteed payment by March.Maybe it was a ploy,because Velu Thampi had devised a plan to send back the Subsidiary troop stationed at Kollam,immediately.He began training the Nairs,under Kizhakkumukham Secretary,Krishnan Chempaka Raman.The Crown prince,Kerala Varma,en rout to Kumaranallur,to take part in the Karthika festival,got down at Kollam,and held a strategy session with Velu Thampi,his brother,Chempaka Raman Thampi and Commerce Secretary,Vaikam Padmanabha Pillai.Krishnan Chempaka Raman and Padinjarumukham Secretary,Mathevan Chempaka Raman Pillai were called to Alapuzha and asked to implement the King's instruction to call back the troops from Kollam.Mathevan Pillai was asked to block the British Force at Cochin from entering Travancore.Thekkumukham Secretary,Kumaran Chempaka Raman was instructed to keep the Kollam troops from going beyond,Aralvaimozhi.

Kollam Residency

Macaulay got information of the movement, on 5 December,from Anchuthengu (Anjengo) Fort.20,000 people,including 6000 Nairs from Kulachal, were trained on weaponry,and cannons were being manufactured at Udayagiri Fort,with iron ore from Aralvaimozhi.The terminated soldiers were called back to service.Macaulay alerted Kollam Commander,Colonel Chamers,sought permission of the Madras Council,to arrest Velu Thampi and  requested the Council to sent,troops from the East and North.The Council voted to sent troops from Kozhikode and Tiruchirappally,at the call of Macaulay.He was given permission to take all necessary steps.

Three Armenians who had been in Thiruvanthapuram in November,briefed the King that Russia and France would attack India in January,and the Marathas and the French will move against the East India Company immediately.Both the King and Thampi believed in the theory,unaware of the International political dynamics.Only the Paliath Achan of Cochin, and Chempil Arayan,stood by Velu Thampi,in the hour of crisis.

Thomas Macaulay

The ambitious Paliath Achan  saw a threat to his machinations,in the Cochin Financial Secretary,Nadavarambu Kunjikrishna Menon,and cooked up false cases against him.The Cochin King,fearing an attempt on the life of Menon by Achan,requested Macaulay,to protect him,and Menon began staying in the Bolgatty palace with Macaulay.Achan sought Velu Thampi's help in choking Menon,out of Residency.Thampi,thinking a war could be avoided if Macaulay was killed,agreed to sent troops from Travancore.A plan to attack the Residency on the night of December 28,was chalked out,and the mission was assigned to a section of the Travancore troops,under,Secretary,Commerce,Vaikam Padmanabha Pillai,and a 3000/4000 strong force of Achan.Arayan's fleet was called to join by Padmanabha Pillai,who was from the same area.

Zachary

Macaulay badge

Meanwhile,on 24th,Velu Thampi  met Macaulay with mediator,Head of Carnatic Brigade,Major Dali,and conveyed his decision to resign,if no waiver was given.Macaulay refused amends,but guaranteed pension and asylum,to Thampi,if he resigned.Thampi wrote a letter, agreeing to resign,on 27th ,but dated 28th(since Macauly will be assassinated on 28th!),to Macaulay,and thanked Ramalinga Muthaliyar for rescuing him,by putting in, his word.He asked for a palanquin to be sent,to take him to Malabar,and a cash of Rs 2000.Major Dali delivered Macaulay's reply,same day at Alapuzha,to Velu Thampi,with soldiers to accompany,Velu Thampi to Malabar.Thampi asked Padmanabha Pillai,to prepare the resignation letter.He told Dali,he will leave on 29 night,meaning,he would wait for the result of the Residency attack of 28th.Dali realized,he was cheated,when he met Thampi,on the evening of 29th.Thampi described the war preparations,and said,Macaulay was a fool."The head of Macaulay will be rolling on the Cochin roads now",Thampi boasted.Dali had entrusted Rs 12000 with Thampi,which he feared,has been lost.But when he reached his place,the voucher was there.

Paliyam Kovilakam

Macaulay's head was intact.Chempil Arayan's fleet reached Bolgatty after midnight on 28 December,1808,in Odi boats.600 men commanded by Achan and two officers of Thampi surrounded the palace and opened fire.They over powered the guard,entered and pillaged the building,and destroyed public records.They could not find Macaulay or Menon.The Resident concealed himself,in a recess in the lower chamber,and in the morning,escaped in the British ship,Peacemont,which was just embarking,with reinforcements from Malabar.Menon,who had gone to Mattancherry, joined Macaulay in the morning,and they together shifted to the ship,Snow,in the outer sea.They returned to Cochin,after  a fortnight,when information came that the rebellion has been crushed.There is copy of a letter dated January 10,Macaulay has written,From the Sea,in his Desultory Notes.

There is a story of the massacre of Dr Hume and 33 British soldiers,next day,December 29,in the Pallathuruthy river.It is said,they were captured,at Purakkad,on their journey from Kollam to Alapuzha,and Velu Thampi ordered  the massacre.British records have a testimony of the Writer of Veluthampi,Kochu Sankara Pillai,saying he took down the order.The story spread,as an eyewitness account  of the servant,Ramalingam,who was with the team.It got repeated by V  Nagam Aiya and T K Velu Pillai,who wrote the State Manuals,taking the description by James Grant,who wrote,History of India,to be true.Some historians argue,it is possible that they were captured,but there is no evidence of a massacre.Historian Sangunni Menon says,the team consisted of one lady,Dr Hume,12 Britishers and 34 native soldiers.The lady was,the wife of Colonel Chlamers,Commander of the Division,which included the 12th Regiment,and there is proof that the sick Lady Chalmers was sent from Kollam to Cochin,with full protection,at the order of Velu Thampi.Major Dali,who was with Velu Thampi,till late evening on 29th,has not mentioned the 'massacre',in his report to Macaulay.There is also a letter, which Colonel Chalmers sent to  Velu Thampi,asking him to set free the captured,including Dr Hume.

In his reply to Chalmers,Thampi criticized  the firing by the British troops against women and children,at Azheekkal.There is no chance for such a correspondence,after a terrible massacre,historians who reject the massacre theory,point out.Dewan Munro had collected statements,in 1816,from all the officials in the service, during the administration of Thampi.There is no mention of a massacre,though,both the killing of Subbayyan and,the attack against Macaulay find mention.But,Letter From Court of Dirctors,29 September,1809,On Political State of the Travancore Territory,in,Parliamentary Papers,(East India Company),Fourth Part,Volume X,(page 130),which I have seen,records:the design of Dalawa,in 1806 , Col Macaulay to have poisoned,was a prelude to the murder in cold blood,which he afterwards ordered of Dr Hume and 33 soldiers of His Majesty's 12th Regiment....If it was Dr John Robert Hume,who joined the British Army in 1800,he was in the service,till 1826,and was Surgeon of the Duke of Wellington,Arthur Wellesley,whom Colin Macaulay knew very well.But,Macaulay,in his Desultory notes(page 30),confirms the massacre.

Arayan's descendants claim,it was Arayan's fleet that captured Dr Hume and his team.If true,he raced through  the back waters,to Kollam after the failed attack on Macaulay.It is also said,his house was searched,he was held,but freed on a ransom.Even after it,he had vowed to present Macaulay's head to the King.

The Madras council's permission to arrest Thampi had been withdrawn,3 days before the Bolgatty attack,on December 25.Governor General Lord Minto informed London in a confidential report,on December 29,that the Company has lost confidence in Macaulay.But the Kundara proclamation, of 12 January,1809,by Thampi,was a blunder,giving the British ample grounds to arrest him.Thampi played wrong politics,by owning up the rebellion against the British,exonerating the equally responsible,or irresponsible,King.The British had feared a public upsurge,if they had moved against the King.So,the British declared war,removed Macaulay and transferred the Resident of Thanjavur,Blackburn to Travancore.Blackburn was in charge of the peaceful negotiations,with Thampi.Travancore forces got defeated on 19 January.Blackburn left for thanjavur,and Macaulay was reinstated.Paliath Achan surrendered to the British on 10,February.Thampi met the King on February 19,and resigned.

There is a folklore on Thampi's final days:Thampi had a magician friend called Kadayatt Unnithan.When Macaulay asked for the arrears of the tribute,Thampi offered to pay in gold,took Unnithan with him to Macaulay,carrying a box.Unnithan opened the box before the eyes of Macaulay;he was amazed to find glittering gold inside the box and was satisfied.Hours later,he could find only stones inside the box-Unnithan had just performed a magic!

After resigning,Thampi went in seatrch of Unnithan on a horse back.As he approached the house,he saw Unnithan's house in flames-he had committed self immolation.

Thampi had the habit of eating the meals,on two tender banana leaves,one upon other.After resignation he fled to Mavelikara,where a friend denied him asylum.From there he went to Vallikkod in Pathanamthitta,wher on the banks of Achankovil river,he found asylum in a home.Two policemen who were taking bath in the river saw two tender banana leaves on the river on an after noon and began a search.Thampi escaped to Mannadi. 

When he committed suicide,on 21 March,cutting his neck himself,when his brother refused to do it,he was a free man.Kerala historians aver,the new Dewan,Ummini Thampi,avowed enemy of Thampi,insulted even the dead body,by an order to hang it.But,India Office,London,records,which I referred(IOR/F/4/338/7687),show that,Colin Macaulay was asked by authorities to explain,why he ordered to expose the corpse of Thampi,on a gibbet,and why he publicly degraded the officers of the Carnatic Brigade.The place where Thampi's corpse was hanged,near Ullur,is known now, as,Dhalavakunnu.I had been there few times,to meet Dr K N Raj and I S Gulati,economists,who had built their houses,there.

There were protests against the British,on the day of the Kundara proclamation,and Chempil Arayan was one among the firsts,to respond.He was killed, survived by a son,Thanu Arayan.His traditional Ettukettu(eight halled with two court yards) house and 20,000 acres of forest land in Erumeli,Edakkunnam and Ranni villages, under his possession,were attached  by the Alapuzha District Court,on January 31,1928.

Paliath Achan was deported to Madras,and kept prisoner at Fort St George for 12 years.He was then taken to Bombay,remained there for 13 years,and died at Benares.

Colin Macaulay went back to London,after his tenure in Travancore,met his nephew and brother in law,Thomas Babington in Leicester shire,bought a property there,but spent much of his time,at Calpham.Babington was a child prodigy.Colin recorded in January,1811:"If I could support sitting at night,I will become a member of the House of Commons,but I must relinquish all thoughts of this,during winter".He did become an MP from Saltash in 1826,seldom attended the Parliament,and never made a speech.He as a devotee of Lord Wellesley,now Duke of Wellington,accompanied him to several places.In 1827,he gave evidence before the Select Committee of Parliament,inquiring into the claims of John Hutchinson,who was Commercial Resident at Anchuthengu(Anjengo),for payment of balance of a debt due to his Estate from the Raja of Travancore.He published his testimony,in,Desultory Notes.

According to Hanna More,English religious writer,poet and playwright,"he was a first rate man with great manners",who brought home,"after all his hair breadth escapades,an ample fortune and a sober mind."

Yes,his brother's son,Dr Kenneth Macaulay,was staying at Kollam,extorting money,as I wrote in my post,The Rise and Fall of Thachil Mathu Tharakan.Colin Macaulay died in Clifton,on February 20, 1836,after a visit to Italy.He directed his Estate be sold and Thomas be paid 10,000 pounds and residue to Zachary.His personality was sworn,under 8000 pounds.India Office records,London, reveal,he owed the Company,a debt of 361 pagodas,on account of allowances overdrawn by him.

Reference:

1.Veluthampi Dalava/V R Parameswaran Pillai
2.Cochin State Manual/C Achyutha Menon
3.Kerala History/A Sreedhara Menon
4.Marthanda Varma Muthal Munro Vare/K Sivasankaran Nair
5.Sakthan Thampuran/Puthezhathu Raman Menon
6.Dewan Velu Thampi and the British/Dr B Sobhanan
7.A Fresh look at Velu Thampi/Dr B Sobhanan 
8.India Office records
9.Parliamentary Papers
10.Desultory Notes/Colin Macaulay 
11.A Political and General History of the District of Tirunelveli/Bishop Caldwell

See my Post,THE RISE AND FALL OF THACHIL MATHU THARAKAN

THE MYSTERY OF CHERAMAN PERUMAL AND MAHABALI

The Muslim Perumal And the Hindu Mahabali

There is a reference to a Sankara Varman or Chengal Perumal (621-640), meeting Muhammad Nabi (C.570-632), around AD 627. Nabi was 57 then. In the Muslim chronicles, there is another reference to a Zamorin of Kozhikode getting converted to Islam, as Abdu Rahman Zamiri (for Samoodiri), in CE 638. It was when the third Khalifa, son-in-law of Nabi, Uthman ibn Affan sent a delegation under Mughira Shu'ba, a companion of the prophet, to Kozhikode. On his return journey from Mecca, Zamiri died at Zafar, then in Yemen, now Dhofar, in Southern Oman. His qabr is still there. Afterwards, it was customary for the Zamorin, to dress up as a Muslim, during the Ariyittuvazhcha, or anointing ceremony, and take an oath saying he was a representative of the Perumal who went to Mecca.

The earliest available manuscript on Islam in Kerala, Tariq Zuhar Al Islam fil Malibar, by Muhammad Malik, mentions, the pilgrim leader, Zahiruddin Taqiuddin meeting the Perumal at Kodungallur, while on a journey to Srilanka, to see the Foot of Adam, or Adam's Peak. He met the Perumal again on his return. Perumal went with them to Arabia and the Perumal met Nabi in Jeddah, on Shawwal 27, Thursday, six years before Hijra, which is AD 617. He was converted to Islam as Thajudin and returned to Malabar after a few years. On the journey, he passed away in Sahar Mukalla, Yemen, on Muharram 1, Monday. It was the first year of Hijra, that is, CE 622.

Al Mukalla is the main seaport and capital city of Hadhramount in Yemen, a southern port of Arabia, on the Gulf of Eden, close to the Arabian Sea, 480 Kilometres east of Eden. It was founded in 1035, as a fishing settlement. Till the middle of the 11th century, it was part of Oman.

The old city is seen from Mukalla Port

Umar Muhammad Suhravardi says the Perumal was converted under the influence of the King of Mahal dweep, Maldives, Kilimanjaro. The Mahal King was known to Malik Dinar of Basra, and the King read out the accounts of Nabi's amazing deed of splitting the moon, to the Perumal and his minister, Krishnan Munjad. They decided to visit the Qabr of Nabi. But, when Munjad spurned Perumal's wife's lustful advances, she cooked up a molestation story against Munjad and the Perumal plotted to kill him. Realizing the sin, Perumal decided to join Islam and go to Mecca. Maybe it was a ploy by Sreedevi to discourage the Perumal from embracing Islam, under the influence of Munjad.

Munjad, who escaped, went to Male and got converted as Husain Khwaja and the Perumal went along with his nephew Kohinoor, to Mecca, in AD 701, during the Caliphate of Walid. The Perumal was joined in Kozhikode by Munjad's relatives, Mustha Mudukad, Neelinishada, Sharipad and their servants Marjan and Aswad, residing at Chaliyam. They were received in Basra by Malik Dinar and Jaffer Sulayman presided over the conversion. From there they went to Arabia, stayed for 12 years and the Perumal died in Sahar Mukalla, on his return journey to Malabar.

Still, there is a ritual of offering, Vattala payasam, to Krishna at the Chirakkal Kadalayi temple to expiate Perumal's sin. He had four wives in four different royal families, and Sreedevi belonged to the Kolathiri swaroopam. He listened to her word, committed a sin, hence had to go to Mecca-the offering is to expiate that sin.

Shaikh Zainudin in  Tuhfatul Mujahideen gives the period of Perumal's conversion being 200 years after Hijra began, so, in the year 822. Keralotpathi insists it was Palli Bana Perumal, not  Cheraman Perumal, who went to Mecca. Bana Perumal got converted first to Buddhism and then to Christianity and Islam. Cheraman was the fifth Perumal after him. The book alleges that it was the Muslims who concocted the myth that Cheraman got converted. We can see politics interfering here. The book has CE 332 as the year in which Perumal met Nabi. But Nabi began his religious work only after CE600, thus bulldozing the very foundations of the book. There are other versions which say Perumal went to Mecca in 825. 

The Caliphate showing Khorasan, CE 750

Maybe two Perumals got converted and went to Mecca. Sankara Varma during Nabi and the last Perumal Ramavarma Kulasekhara after Nabi.

Maybe both died in Arabia and Ramavarma was instrumental in Malik Dinar's visit to Kerala.MGS Narayanan opines that Perumal's conversion would have been in 1122. There is every chance since Yemen history says Mukalla was founded only in 1035. Maybe, it was a second Perumal conversion, as we will see later.

Madayi Mosque

There are several people with the name, Malik Dinar. The name denotes an Iranian, not an Arab, according to A Shusterry. If that he journeyed from Kodungallur to Khorasan in Iran, and died en route is true, it might be the disciple of the famous Sufi of Basra, Hassan, who died in 744. Then the reference in Rihlat al Muluk that Malik Dinar started off to Kodungallur in 701, becomes logical and we are given to believe Kalady, where Adi Sankara was born, was administered by an Islamic Perumal. It was absolute anarchy in Kerala then.

In the legend, Perumal, before leaving for Mecca, instructs the Zamorin to look after the Muslims and the Qasi, well. If there was a Qasi, there was a mosque, before the Perumal.

It is said that Malik Dinar had Perumal's letters with him, and when shown, the King gave him a Buddha vihara, where the Cheraman mosque was erected. The Vihara was constructed by Palli Bana Perumal. There is a version that says the Arathalli temple was gifted and converted into a mosque in 629. The Madayi mosque in Kannur, the third mosque in Kerala, was constructed with the help of the King of Kolathunad. The history of the Arakkal Muslim Kingdom of Kannur says the mosque was built by Kohinoor, the nephew of Cheraman Perumal. There is also a version which gives its credit to the Nair minister of Kolathiri, who got converted to Islam. Ibn Battuta, the 14th-century traveller, records meeting a King, whose grandfather did convert to Islam and built the Valapattanam mosque.

Malik Dinar Mosque,Thalangara

In the Arakkal history, the nephew of Cheraman is not Kohinoor, but Saifuddin Muhammad Ali, who was known as Mahabali earlier, son of Cheraman's sister Sreedevi, living at Dharmadam, North of Thalassery. He was converted by Perumal and Malik Dinar, on their way from Kodungallur to Basra, via Dharmadam. They travelled to Mecca from the erstwhile Poynadu, comprising, Edakkad, Ancharakkandi and Mavilayi, governed by Randuthara Achans.Perumal got down at Sahar Mukalla,went to see Nabi at Jeddah.He called Saifuddin Muhammad Ali at the time of his death and advised him not to visit Kodungallur or Travancore. Mahal king, Munjad and Malik Dinar met Perumal at Mukalla and got letters from him. On return, Malik Dinar embarked at Dharmadam, and sent Perumal's letters through the trader, Gulam Syed Muhammad, to the King of Kodungallur. He built the Madayi mosque.

Before the conversion of the Perumal, there was Islam in Kannur, the Arakkal branch had stemmed from a princess of the Kolathiri family who had married the Nair minister, an Arayan Kulangara Nair, who got converted. Their successors were called Mammali kidavu s, meaning children of Muhammad Ali, or Mahabali, meaning, Perumal's sister had married an Arayan Kulangara Nair. Then, it was not Malik Dinar, but Kohinoor, or Saifuddin Muhammad Ali, who built the Madayi mosque. 

Inside Cheraman Masjid,Kodungallur

The legend that Kerala Muslims adore, is the one in which the Perumal is Thajudin. He went from Kodungallur, Koyilandi Kollam, and Dharmadam to Sahar Mukalla Bandr (port), went to Jeddah and met Nabi who converted and named him, Thajudin. Malik Dinar married Perumal's daughter, Rajiyat. The Perumal died of fever and was interred in Sahar Mukalla Mosque. His fourth son, Thaqiudin went to Madurai and built 22 mosques, including the one at Kodungallur.

Thajudhin(Tajudhin) is mentioned in the report of Rahmatullahi Ahaihi in his Musthadarak a Hadeeth, narrated by Abu Saeed Al Khudry. He describes Thajudin Al Hindi meeting Nabi and presenting a container of a pickle with ginger in it." Nabi fed his companions ginger and I also was fed a piece from it", records Rahmatullah. It becomes an eyewitness account thus. Thajudin, in this account, heard of Nabi's miracles from traders and met him through them, and witnessed the splitting of the moon, by Nabi. This incident was in Hijra 5. So, it was in AD 627, and if we take this as history, the converted Perumal was Sankara Varman, who ruled from,621-640.So,it was not the last Perumal,Ramavarma Kulasekhara.

Thajudin passed away in the Oman port city of Salalah, en route to his return to India. The qabr of Thajudin is there in Hazrat Syedina Tajuddin Dargah, in Al Baleed, Salalah. He went to Jeddah from Mukalla, and on his return, fell sick at Salalah, and died in the port of Zafar, now Dhofar, on the Eastern border of Yemen, in Southern Oman.In local parlance, he is Chakrawati Farmas. By a strange coincidence, here, Sankara Varma the Perumal, who became Thajuddin, gets identified as Abdurahman Zamiri, the Zamorin, whom I mentioned at the beginning. The qabr is in the same city. Salalah is a greenish area like Kerala, with coconut trees, Plantain, Papaya and pepper. It is claimed by the local people that, it is the result of the dua made by Thajudin to Allah, to make the land his own home place. The distance between Mukalla and Dhofar is 680 Kilometers,10 hours.

Qabr of Thajudin in Salalah

The confusion about the Perumal who became a Muslim got confounded when the term, Cheraman Perumal was taken as an individual. It was a common term for the ruler, meaning, Chera's Perumal for Kerala. The Perumal, when first brought to rule, were not in Kodungallur. They were stationed at Thalyur, North of Thaliparambu, in Kannur. The Perumal sent by the Chola king stayed at Chozhakkara palace and the one sent by the Pandya king at Pandivampana, according to Keralotpathi. Palli Bana Perumal, who became Muslim, stayed at Banapuram. His father was from the Kodungallur Perunkovilakam. That he got converted makes sense, because the mosque, Palli, is attached to his name, which, definitely was a later addition. Palli is also a Buddhist word, hinting at a mix-up.

Cheraman Masjid/C.AD 625

What was the motive behind the conversion?
He had a quarrel with the Brahmin priests, his tongue was pulled out, he was dethroned and went to Mecca. Another version is that he murdered Bhutharaya Perumal, with the help of the Nambudiris after his defeat at the hands of the latter, forcing him to abdicate the throne. This made Nambudiris decorate him as a glamorous Kshatriya King. Keralotpathi brings in Parasurama, saying, the Perumal sought a solution to enjoy the wealth of Parasurama illegally. 

The Brahmin diviners told him, he has the solution only in Islam, and he will get an excuse when he kills Commander Nair, for an illicit relationship with his wife. He gifted 28 provinces to 29 kings before sailing to Mecca. When at last Mangat Unnikumara Menon came to see the Perumal at Thrikkariyur, he had only the land where the cock crows (Kozhikode?) and a bushy land (chullikkad). The place where the Perumal lived in this story, is Thrikkariyur, where Thunjath Ezhuthachan was born, much later. He knew better.

I have also read, the Perumal went to Mecca from Eraniel in Travancore. During the close of the temple festival there, an elephant is driven to the pond and asked to search for the Perumal. Here the story is, after Varaguna Pandyan defeated the Perumal in a battle at Vizhinjam in Travancore, the frustrated Perumal went to Mecca. In this chronicle, Kohinoor is not his nephew, but the Travancore Queen's son.

Mannar Koil

Fine. The last Perumal, Ramavarma, towards the end, lived not in Kodungallur, but Kollam.M G S Narayanan has proved that the Chera Perumals ruled during 800-1124. In the fierce war with the Cholas, Kulothunga Chola destroyed Perumal's capital Mahodayapuram, near Kudungallur and he shifted the capital to Kollam, around 1100. He had pressure from the Nambudiri brahmins. In the political turmoil, the Perumal abdicated in favour of his son, Kotha Varma(1102-1125). Perumal rule by that time had ended, Kollam had been captured by Kulothunga Chola in 1096, and Venad had become independent. It is believed that Perumal's sister had married a prince of the Perumbadapu royal family in Ponnani. The inscription, dated 1102 in the Rameswarathu temple in Kollam, records that the Perumal lived in the Panamkovil Palace. 

So, it is certain that it was not a Perumal who got converted in 627 or 638, even if the conversion account is true. If we take into account the evidence provided by MGS, it was not the Perumal, it was his son, King Kotha Varma, who may have embraced Islam. Hence, we find a nephew, not the Perumal's son, in the chronicles. For the benefit of chroniclers, Maldives is closer to Kollam than Kodungallur. The Perumal, being a friend of Sundara Murthy Nayanar, leading a monastic life after the abdication, makes sense. He is not Thajuddin, anyway. 

Koil idol

It takes us to the Mannar Rajagoplaswamy Kulasekhara Perumal Temple,40 kilometres west of Tirunelveli, near Ambasamudram, on the banks of the Tamiraibharani and Karuna rivers. The history of the temple with several inscriptions records that the Perumal stayed 30 years there, and died worshipping the Rama idol there. 

From the myriad myths, the one inference one can arrive at is that one Perumal/Perumal's son, did embrace Islam, and the legend is a concoction of Buddhism and Islam. In the olden days, Hindus seldom differentiated between the two,calling Muslims, Boudhas. I have always felt the story of Vamana dethroning Mahabali is based on the Cheraman myth, and there is a Mahabali, Saifuddin Muhammad Ali, in the story. Vamana destabilizing Mahabali is symbolic of, Nambudiri Brahmins dethroning the Perumal, after his attempt on the life of Munjad. Even in the Muslim chronicles, there is a reference to a rebellion by the Nair chieftains against the Perumal.

Embracing Islam was an escape route for him. Only the excommunicated sought conversion. In my childhood in Tripunithura, during Onam, a Muslim used to arrive, from Nettur, singing, paeans to the Perumal. Later I read the song in one short story, Vilapangal, by N S Madhavan. Thus, Onam always brings to my mind, a Muslim.

Reference:

1.Caste invades Kerala:A Social History of India/S N Sadasivan
2.Tuhfatul Mujahideen/Zaindudin
3. Keralotpathi
4. Outline of Islamic Culture/A Shusterry
5. Kerala Muslim Charitram/P A Said Muhammad
6. A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar/Francis Buchanan
7. The Southern Gates of Arabia/Freya Stark
8. Genesis and Growth of the Mappila Community/Dr Hussein Randathani
9.Muhammad Rasulullah/M Hamidullah 
10.Perumals of Kerala/MGS Narayanan 
11.Tadkirat-al Kiran Tarik -i,Khulufa-i-Arab/Sayyid Shah Kabir Tanaferi 
12.Islam in Kerala/Syed Mohideen Shah
13.Muslimingalum Kerala Samskaravum/P K Muhammad Kunji

See my Post,ARAKKAL ALI RAJA'S ATTACK OF MALDIVES