DEWAN OF ZAMORIN STABBED BY A PRINCE

He Was Saved by a British Doctor

I just finished reading the book, From Cauvery to Neela: A History of the Tamil Agraharams of Palakkad, by K N Lakshminarayanan. It is an excellent reference work on the Tamil brahmins of Palakkad, especially Kalpathi. It has nothing on two Tamil brahmin luminaries of Palakkad, L K Ananthakrishna Iyer and A S Panchapakesa Iyer. It does mention Swaminatha Pattar, the Dewan or Prime Minister of the Zamorin of Calicut, omitting the attempt on his life by the idiots of Padinjare Kovilakam of Calicut.

The book records:

"The agraharam residents are proud of their ancestors, who have left a trail of glory. Uddanda Sastrigal, Ramayyan Dalava, Swaminatha Pattar and other immigrants were honoured by the rulers of Kerala for their valour...Natives of the agraharam played an important part in the field of politics and statecraft. In the 1800s Subba Iyer and his army were sent to help the ruler of Travancore fight the British.General Nurani Venkatanarayana Iyer guarded the Mysore border. Swaminatha Pattar became Dewan to the Zamorin of Calicut in 1793. His descendants, bearing the title of 'Kariakar', live today in Chathapuram Agraharam."

The book mentions Shamnoth, Minister of the Zamorin, not knowing the person is none other than Swaminatha Pattar. The author quotes K Haridasan, who wrote, Palakkadan Charithram: "According to Shamnoth, Minister of the Zamorin,the roads pertaining to Palakkad constructed under Tipu's rule ran from Palakkad to Dindigul via Thathamangalam, Pollachi and Palani; from Feroke to Coimbatore via Angadipuram, Mannarkad and Palakkad".

In British records and Logan's Malabar Manual, Swaminatha Iyer or Swminatha Pattar is mentioned as Shamnath, not Shamnoth.

Logan has briefly described in the Malabar Manual, the attempt by  Ravivarma, a nephew in Zamorin's western Palace, suspecting Swaminatha Patter to be a double agent. Ofcourse, Swaminatha Iyer facilitated ceding the Zamorin territory to the British. But it was after the British had established themselves in Malabar after the treaty of Srirangapatna, by which Tipu was dethroned. The Zamorin had escaped to Travancore.

The Srirangapatna treaty, ending the rule of Tipu was signed on 22 February 1792. Following this, a number of treaties were signed by the British with Indian kings. On 18 August 1792, by a treaty with the Zamorin of Calicut, he was given the right to collect revenue and administer justice for one year. On 21 June 1793, an agreement was signed at the Palakkad Fort between Palakkad Raja Itti Kombi Achan and the Malabar Commissioners of the East India Company, William Gamul Farmer and Major Alexander Walker to restore the land to the Raja to rule. W G Farmer from Bombay presidency had been sworn in as Malabar Supervisor on 18 March 1792. Prior to that, Alexander Dow, W G farmer, William Page and Charles Boddam were sent as commissioners to Malabar, to study and give a report. Dow was the Military Commander at Tellicherry.

Ravi Varma (1745–1793) was a Samanta Nair warrior prince of the Royal House of Zamorins from Calicut who fought a two-decade long revolt against the Mysore Sultanate under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan between 1766–1768 and 1774–1791, and later against the British East India Company in 1793. Born in 1745, Ravi Varma belonged to the Padinjare Kovilakam (Mankavu Palace), of the Zamorins Royal Family (Nediyirippu Swarupam), which had been ruling the Kingdom of Calicut for 600 years. The incumbent Raja of this family was popularly referred to as Zamorin or Samoothiri.Unlike his more famous contemporary and close personal friend Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, the prince-regent of Kottayam, very little is known about the personal lives of Ravi Varma and the other princes of the Padinjare Kovilakam.

Hyder Ali's invasion of Malabar in 1766 was met with stiff opposition by the local Nairs, who led by the Zamorin of Calicut, rose up in rebellion against the oppressive policies implemented by his regime. During Hyder's third invasion in 1767, as the Mysorean army was approaching the city gates, the Zamorin sent all his relatives to safe haven in Ponnani and immolated himself to avoid the humiliation of surrender and forced conversion to Islam. His nephew and successor, Krishna Varma continued the war until 1774, when he fled to Travancore. The abrupt end of the 600-year reign of the Zamorins created a leadership vacuum in the kingdom of Calicut, which resulted in the Eralppad (second-in-line successor to the throne)  Krishna Varma's assumption of the throne. Together with his nephew Ravi Varma and a small band of Nair warriors, Krishna Varma swore revenge against Hyder and Tipu. The ensuing insurgency struggle against the Mysorean army lasted until 1791.

Krishna Varma appointed Ravi Varma as the Commander of the armed forces of Calicut and for two decades tried in vain to thwart all efforts by Hyder and Tipu to subjugate his kingdom. Ravi Varma was, perhaps, the only Malabar prince to rise up in 1788 against the forced conversions and deportation of Nairs to Srirangapatna conducted by Tipu.

Krishnan Varma continued his fight against the invading Mysorean forces from South Malabar. He marched to Ponnani and then Tanur, and forced Hyder's troops to retreat. By the time he had fled to Travancore in 1774, Krishna Varma had managed to force Hyder Ali to cede many parts of Malabar to local rulers, who were supported by the East India Company.

The Mysorean invasion of Malabar had forced most of the royal Nair households to flee to Travancore, where they were helped to rehabilitate themselves by Dharma Raja. With most of royals in exile, the young princes of Padinjare Kovilakam took charge. Their immediate goal was to oust Mysorean garrisons from Calicut. Krishna Varma was the eldest man of this western branch – but it was his adventurous nephew Ravi Varma who took a role in military affairs. This uncle and nephew together with their junior male relatives prepared for war. Hyder's policy of torture and financial extortion of residents of Zamorin country also caused widespread resentment among masses and this drove people into arms of rebels. Mysorean exploitation thus gave birth to an 18-year cycle of reprisals and revolts.

During the monsoon of 1766, the whole of Zamorin domain rose in revolt but were disastrously defeated at Puthiyangadi near Ponnani after which they chose to fight only guerrilla warfare. To crush the rebellion, Hyder unleashed a reign of terror in which he murdered as many as 10,000 people in Zamorin country. But that proved to be of no use as rebels led by Ravi Varma once more rose up in 1767 and Hyder's army of some 15,000 men were trapped inside their stockaded camps across Zamorin country. 

A prince seventh in line of succession, the rebellion in the Southern Malabar was led by Ravi Varma. He also helped 30,000 Brahmins flee to Travancore.

In 1768, Hyder pulled out his troops from Zamorin country as well as from all of Malabar since they were on verge of defeat. Also Hyder was threatened with imminent attack by Marathas and Nizam and so he withdrew from Malabar. Hyder restored possessions to Rajas on condition that they pay him tribute. 

The new Zamorin who was in exile came back and took power in 1768 and princes of Padinjare Kovilakam were eclipsed till 1774. The Zamorin learnt little from past disasters—instead of building up his military force to meet Mysorean threat or paying tribute to Hyder to purchase peace and safety, he did neither. Instead he plunged his country into another war with Cochin – this was also last war between Cochin and Calicut (K V Krishna Ayyar).

In 1774, once more Hyder's troops invaded Malabar and Zamorin Raja fled to Travancore and thus princes of Padinjare Kovilakam once more rose to prominence. Krishna Varma became overall head and Ravi Varma, the commandant of rebel force. Ravi Varma's rebels made shrewd use of forest and mountainous landscape that covered most of Zamorin country. 

Ravi Varma moved his military HQ away from vulnerable Calicut and Ponnani to Kalladikode in Nedunganad province (Modern Ottapalam taluk). They also took war into enemy territories in Coimbatore district, one of the richest parts of Hyder's domain, which they looted and devastated in retaliation to Mysorean reprisals.

In November 1788, the Mysore forces under Tipu attacked Calicut and captured the Karanavappad of Manjeri. Their assaults were met with resistance by the Nairs of Calicut and southern Malabar led by Ravi Varma and other princes of the Padinjare Kovilakam. Tipu sent 6,000 troops under his French commander, M. Lally to raise the siege, but failed to defeat Ravi Varma. By 1779, Hyder had enough of war with Ravi Varma and invited him for talks to his camp in Calicut. But some unusual troop movements around the guest-house where he was staying roused his suspicions that Hyder was planning to arrest him and so he left immediately to Kalladikode.

During the 1780s, Ravi Varma led a successful rebellion against the Mysore forces. Though Tipu conferred on him a jaghir (vast area of tax-free land) mainly to appease him, the Zamorin prince, after promptly taking charge of the jaghir, continued his revolt against the Mysore power, more vigorously and with wider support. He soon moved to Calicut, his traditional area of influence and authority, for better co-ordination. Tipu sent a large Mysore army under the command of M. Lally and Mir Asrali Khan to defeat the Zamorin prince at Calicut. It is believed that Ravi Varma assisted several members of the priestly community (almost 30,000 Nambudiris) to flee the country and take refuge in Travancore.

In 1782, Ravi Varma's men recaptured all of Zamorin country and even helped British to capture forts of Calicut and Palakkad. But in 1784, Tippu got Malabar back by the Treaty of Mangalore and once more Ravi Varma had to deal with Mysorean troops.

There was widespread disturbance after hefty land tax was introduced in Malabar by Arshad Beg Khan, Tipu's Governor. Athan Kurikkal of Manjeri rose in protest with riots. Arshad Beg sought the help of Ravivarma to deal with the rioters.Varma joined hands with the Coorg Muslims and chopped off the hands and legs of the Mappila rioters. Beg rewarded him with a pension and the position of a jagirdar.

Tipu bribed Ravi Varma in hope that he will give up war and submit to Mysore authority. But Ravi Varma's dream was  restoration of  former prestige. So he kept up irregular warfare to harass Mysore army of occupation. But even so, prospects of peace became brighter by 1788 when Krishna Varma even visited Tipu in Calicut for peace talks. Krishna Varma sent an agent for peace talks. (Ayyar)

Tipu's promise was restoration of Zamorin country to the Zamorin on one condition – Zamorin must help him in conquest of Travancore. Tipu even sent a large sum to Krishna Varma to bribe him. But even so Varma refused to agree. Some account says that his refusal was because of Tipu's forcible conversions.( Ayyar )

Tipu angry at his failure in negotiations unleashed a wave of savage religious persecution and Ravi Varma and rebels rose up and seized whole of Southern Malabar, marched and captured Calicut in 1788. Even though a Mysore army under French general Lally recaptured Calicut the same year, Ravi Varma and his rebels still dominated most of Zamorin country.

Mankav Kovilakam/Harimohan

According to Logan, In 1789, Tipu came with a vast army and Ravi Varma and men were forced to flee to forests. Towns and villages were seized by Tipu's troops but they reached nowhere in jungle warfare with Ravi Varma and his partisans. In 1790, Tipu invaded Travancore only to be checked by Dharma Raja's troops and this provoked British to attack Mysore in retaliation.Travancore was under British protection as per Mangalore Treaty. Soon rebels of Malabar also joined hands with British. 

In 1790, a British force of 2,000 men under Colonel James Hartley landed in South Malabar to deal with Mysore army of 9,000 Sepoys and 4,000 Mappilas. Ravi Varma rushed to aid with 5,000 of his best Nairs and that helped to turn tide in favour of British. Hartley in his letter to Governor-General Charles Cornwallis, stated that this victory was of decisive importance to British success in Third Anglo-Mysore War. Hartley received command of a detachment sent to the coast of Cochin to aid the company's ally, the Raja of Travancore. In May, Hartley received orders to invest Palakkad, an important fortress dominating the pass which leads through the western Ghauts into Mysore. On arriving within forty miles of the place, Hartley heard that it had already surrendered.

He, however, continued his march, and occupied himself partly in collecting supplies for the main army at Tiruchirapally, and partly in watching any movement of Tipu's troops to the south-west. On 10 December, he inflicted a crushing defeat on vastly superior forces under Hussein Ali, Tipu's general, at Calicut. The remnant of the beaten army was pursued to Feroke, where it surrendered, and that fortress was occupied by the British. On the outbreak of War with France in 1793, Hartley held command of the expedition which captured the French settlement of Mahé in Malabar ( In May 1796, he was made a Major-general, and appointed to the staff in India. He returned to Bombay in 1797. In addition to his military rank he was now made a supervisor and magistrate for the Province of Malabar.He died after a very short illness on 4 October 1799, at Kannur).

Ravi Varma and his uncle Krishna Varma were angered when the faint hearted Zamorin  in exile agreed to terms that made Calicut a dependency of the British. They were even more angered by the fact that it was Swaminatha Pattar, the prime minister of the exiled Zamorin who persuaded latter to surrender to the British. From their stronghold in Nedumganad, Ravi Varma and his men contacted Pazhassi Raja and his partisans. He even sheltered a large number of Pazhassi fugitives and even began to collect tax from the Zamorin country without British permission. He warned Swaminatha Pattar not to betray his country to British any more and even threatened death if the latter did not mend his ways. The British soon accused Ravi Varma of conspiracy to undermine the British rule and warned that severe punishment would be given to Ravi Varma and nephews if they harmed Swaminatha Pattar or if they tried to rule the country without British permission. The British government asked Ravi Varma to pay 100,000 rupees immediately.

In 1793, Krishna Varma died at Karimpuzha in Nedunganad. Ravi Varma decided to continue the war with the British and so he contacted Pazhassi Raja and Mappila rebels of Southern Malabar along with the discontented princes of Palakkad and even with his old enemy Tipu  for joint action- his aim was to oust the British from Malabar. The British offered rewards for information about the whereabouts of Pazhassi Raja (3000 pagodas), Vira Varma Raja (1000 pagodas), and Ravi Varma Raja (1000 pagodas).

The Mappilas under Manjeri Athan Kurikkal captured Arshad Beg Khan,Tipu's Commander.Tipu offered the Zamorins their power back if Khan is released, and if he is helped to capture Travancore. They refused. Swaminatha Pattar was sent to Mysore to Negotiate, in January, 1789. In the next year he handed over appeals of Veluthampi Dalawa, the rebel Dewan of Travancore, to the British.

The Zamorin, who had returned from Travancore, tried to channel all trade through himself, taking a cue from Travancore. At Thalassery, Swaminatha Pattar had an argument with Chakkara Moosa ( Choucara Moosa in British records) and Moosa threatened him. Pattar promptly lodged a complaint with the British. Moosa, in addition to timber, had agreed to supply 20 candys of cardomom to the Company, but had failed.

Patttar took part in the discussions on the final treaty with the Zamorin Manavikrama Raja and the British Malabar Supervisor W G Farmer on 18 August 1792. Pattar had convinced the Zamorin to sign the treaty. Pattar became the Agent of the british to collect pepper and the Zamorin removed him from his service for not sharing the pepper revenue. By the next year, Pattar became an administrator of the Company. Pattar also secured the plush revenue from export and customs of Calicut Port. He was paid one percent from the Zamorin's revenue collections. Zamorin thus lost all the revenue income. This infuriated the idiots of the Padinjare Kovilakam. Pattar had promised restoration of the Palakkad land to the Kovilakam and trade ties with the British. But as legal attorney to the Zamorin, he took away even the remaining revenue of the Zamorin. Pattar became very nervous when Ravivarma and others began collaborathing with Pazhassi Raja. Pattar sought protecton of the British and the Malabar Supervisor James Stevens in turn, warned Ravivarma.

A year later, Ravivarma invited  Swaminatha Pattar, to Padinjare Kovilakam in Mankavu. The palace has a Bhagavathy Temple in the middle. The Trisala temple was built by a Zamorin popularly known as Karyasthan Thampuran. This temple is dedicated to the goddess Bala Durga. The Devi is worshipped as a small girl playing with a ball in one hand. It is believed that Trisala Bhagavathi is the younger sister of Sree Valayanad Devi, the family deity of the Zamorin’s Swaroopam.

Trisala Bhagavathy Temple

During the Hyder and Tipu invasions, the members of the Padinjare Kovilakam escaped to  Travancore where the then Maharaja , Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma ( Dharma Raja) welcomed them and gave Kunnathur Kovilakam in Kollam for their domicile. When the situation in Calicut became normal and peaceful, the Zamorin rehabilitated his family members to a place in Calicut close to the Valayanad Devi temple. At that time, this area was in the custody of Mangalassery Nair family,and they  had given this plot to the Zamorin for building the kovilakam. At that time this place was a wilderness. There was an ancient temple of Bala Durga which was demolished at the time of the Muslim invasion of Malabar. The lore is that, at the time of clearing the trees for building the kovilakam, the hatchet of one of the labourers touched a stone and blood oozed from it. Seeing this strange phenomenon, the matter was reported to the Zamorin. At the deva prasna it was revealed that the sila was the idol of Bala Durga. Accordingly, a temple was built on the spot and the worship began. The sankalpa of the deity is that of the devi of Kanyakumari.

Ravivarma and his nephew Ravi Varma Unni Raja II (Ravi Varma Unni Nambi) lured Pattar to the temple and confronted him there. An irate Ravivarma and his nephew stabbed the Dewan. He was saved by treatment of a British surgeon named Wye, according to Logan. John William Wye was the Acting Collecotor of Valluvanad, and was Assistant Surgeon of the Bombay Medical Establishment of the Company.The Rani, agonized by this terrible act that amounted to brahmahathya, consulted the astrologers, conducted a puja and a Brahmarakshas idol was installed.

After this, Ravi Varma fled towards Wynad to join the Pazhassi Raja. He was joined by the  notorious Mappila bandit chief Unni Mootha Mooppan, few Coimbatore Gounders and Palakkad Kunhi Achan. Mooppan was a relative of Athan Kurikkal. Ravivarma was followed on the way by Captain Burchall and his men to Anamalai.They escaped to Travancore. The Company offered Rs 5000 for their capture. Ravivarma joined Pazhassi Raja in the second revolt. In 1793 he was caught and sent to Cherpulassery where he died in captivity. Official version for the death Ravivarma was, complications that arose from an old bullet injury. Very unlikely. Ravi Varma's nephew Ravi Varma junior along with his four brothers also died in suspicious circumstances during their imprisonment.There is no evidence either to prove that Ravi Varma the elder and his five nephews were executed in captivity, though it is a strong possibility. He was cremated at his stronghold of Kalladikode. Rebel leaders of Malabar – Pazhassi Raja included – mourned the death of Ravi Varma.

The rest of Padinjare Kovilakam princes evaded British capture and kept a large part of Southern Malabar in a state of chronic disturbance. It was only in 1797 that they agreed to surrender to the British. This four-year-long rebellion by Calicut princes is not a well recorded event in Malabar history. 

James Hartley

During the war with Mysore troops, Ravi Varma commanded the largest rebel force in Malabar and it  proved to be vital for British victory in Third Anglo-Mysore War. In spite of all these factors, Ravi Varma belongs to that class of leaders who are almost lost to history.

It was Swaminatha Pattar's idea to form a native batallion of Nairs called Kolkars to fight the local war lords, that the British implemented. It was commanded by Captain Joseph Watson. Pazhassi Raja was finally confronted by Watson and the Kolkars including Kanara Menon.

Logan's Malabar Manual, in the same context, has referred to some anti social Mappila bandits. In March 1799, the Puthiyangadi Thangal,descendant of an arab family got continuance of an exemption from the payment of revenue in his property, originally granted to him by the second Raja of Calicut in 1791.This was to restrain Mappilas by him, from resorting to 'lawless habits'. The ring leaders of these anti social Mappilas were, Unni Mootha Mooppan, Athan Kurikkal and Chemban Pokkar. A formidable combination was formed by them instigated by a spirit of revenge for the punishment inflicted on some of their connections, especially on Adam Khan, the brother in law of Kurikkal, who was executed for murder. The combination became alarming after an abortive attempt made by the Assistant Collector T H Baber to seize Chemban Pokkar, who had escaped from the Palakkad Fort. Baber's party was repulsed. This encouraged Pokkar to make a daring attempt on the life of G Waddel, the Southern Superintendent, while he was proceeding from Angadippuram to Orampuram. In this, Pokkar was secretly abetted by Kurikkal, who had in 1790,  joined the Company's service as the head of police in Eranad.

To put the record straight, Travancore Dewan Ramayyan Dalawa was not from Palakkad. Ramayyan (Death January 1756 ) was born in Yerwadi, a village in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, to which his family originally belonged. When he was six years of age, his poor father gave up his native village and came to Thiruvattar and settled at a hamlet known as Aruvikara in the Kalkulam Taluk in the modern-day Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. When he was twenty years old, he lost his parents, who he survived along with their other three sons and one daughter.

Ramayyan

After the death of his parents, Ramayyan frequently visited Thiruvananthapuram, attracted to it by the never ending festivities and celebrations, which always drew great crowds of Tamil Brahmins from all over Travancore and neighbouring regions of modern-day Tamil Nadu. On one occasion he decided to stay back and seek some employment, in which, owing to his superior intelligence and ability, he was successful. He was employed as an assistant to the Athiyara Potti  of Vanchiyoor, a member of the Ettara Yogam or the Council of Eight and a Half who controlled the Padmanabhaswamy temple and a man of great power and influence.

One evening, when the Maharaja Marthanda Varma was dining at Atthyara, he noticed Ramayyan, who impressed him by dealing with a minor yet significant incident with great sense and intelligence. The pleased Marthanda Varma asked  Athiyara Potti to let him take the young boy into his service. Ramayyan became a servant of the Maharaja. Ramayyan from being appointed at a minor post in the Palace management, soon rose in the Maharaja's favour and was appointed Palace Rayasom or Under Secretary. When the then Dalawa / Dewan of Travancore, Arumukham Pillai died in 1736, Ramayyan replaced him.

The entire territorial extent of Travancore , between the river Periyar and Cape Comorin was attained with the efforts of Ramayyan. It was due to the combined efforts and conquests of Marthanda Varma with Ramayyan, that the kingdoms of Kayamkulam, Madathinkoor (Mavelikkara), Elayadathu Swaroopam, Kollam, Ambalapuzha etc. were annexed to Travancore and the Dutch were defeated in the Battle of Colachel. Several favourable treaties were signed with the British under his Dalawaship while the Kingdom of Cochin and the Zamorin accepted the suzerainty of Travancore.

Ramayyan  resided in Mavelikkara, where he had a palace built by Marthanda Varma. After the death of his wife, Ramayyan married a Nair lady from the Edassery family, Mavelikara. After his death, Ramayyan's descendants left to Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu and settled there. His Nair wife was given gifts and presents and special allowances from the Travancore government in recognition of his services to the state while his own descendants were bestowed with the honorific title of Dalawa. Ramayyan died in 1756. 

Marthanda Varma  followed his faithful servant in 1758. The last Dewan of Travancore, P G N Unnithan hailed from the Edassery Pattaveettil Family of Mavelikkara which had a history of high military service to the Travancore Royal Family. His father Ittamar Koil Thampuran was from the Haripad Palace and a nephew of Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran.

Ramayyan Dalawa's two sons and one daughter moved back to Tamil Nadu after his death. His family finally settled in the erstwhile Pudukkottai, a princely State in Tamil Nadu. The then king of Pudukkottai, who had a good rapport with the Travancore state, offered Dalawa's descendants the entire village of Sithanavasal.

Uddaṇḍa Śāstrī, author of Kokila Sandesam, definitely found patronage at the Zamorin's Court. He was a 15th-century Tamil brahmin from a village whose learning and scholarship was so great that even the parrots were reciting the Vedas as the koil flies past- he made his way west, seeking patronage, and eventually ended up in Kerala where he is said to have married a lady from Chendamangalam, which leads some to assume the poem's heroine, of the Marakkara household in Chendamangalam, was in fact his wife.

The poet is supposed to have acquired the title Uddaṇḍa, which means 'pre-eminent', literally 'one who has a stick upraised'), from the Zamorin court of Calicut where he found patronage; his original name was Irugupanātha; it was this verse, the very first words the poet spoke to the Zamorin, which is said to have earned him his name:

उद्दण्डः परदण्डभैरव भवद्यात्रासु जैत्रश्रियो
हेतुः केतुरतीत्य सूर्यसरणिं गच्छन् निवार्यस्त्वया ।
नो चेत् तत्पटसम्पुटोदरलसच्छार्दूलमुद्राद्रवत्
सारङ्गं शाशिबिम्बमेष्यति तुलां त्वत्प्रेयसीनां मुखैः ॥

Tamil brahmins should also be proud of the fact that Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji, the fanatic gangster behind the Hindu pogrom of 1921 in Malabar was caught alongwith 21 rebels by S I Ramanatha Iyer, on 7 January,1922, at Chokkad, Nilambur. 

Finally, my mother belonged to Mankavu-a Tamil brahmin family, which was in the service of Padinjare Kovilakam, but not in anyway related to Swaminatha Iyer.

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Reference:

1.Ayyar, K. V. Krishna (1938)/ The Zamorins of Calicut
2.Buchanan, Francis (1807) / A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar
3.Dale, Stephen Frederic (1980) / Islamic society on the South Asian frontier: the Mappilas of Malabar, 1498–1922
4.India, Director of Census Operations, Kerala (1981)/ Census of India, 1981: Special Report, Controller of Publications
5.Logan, William (1887) / Malabar manual, Volume 1
6.Menon, A. Sreedhara (1962) / Kerala District Gazetteers
7.Narayanan, M.G.S. (2006) / Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited/University of Calicut

8.K N Lakshminarayanan / From cauvery to Neela

© Ramachandran