1616:WILLIAM KEELING IN CALICUT

Twelve year old boy in an English Factory

William Keeling was an amateur producer of Shakespeare's plays.Probably,he wanted to make money,when he led an East India Company expedition to India and the East.

Invested with the title of Commander-in Chief,he was keen to expand the activities of the Company.He sailed down the coast of India,in the ship,The Red Dragon,periodically exchanging fire with Portuguese ships.In March 1616,while off Cranganore,he was intercepted by an emissary of the Zamorin of Calicut.The Zamorin,who was preparing to attack the Portuguese Fort at Cranganore,offered to give the Company,trading rites at Calicut in exchange for assistance and an agreement was concluded.Keeling left behind four men and a 12 year old boy to establish a factory.

Red Dragon,Malacca,1602

They had a stock of trade goods-tin,lead,cloth and half a ton of an automatic gun captured from the Portuguese.They also had a stock of gun powder.One of the men was a gunner and he would show the Indians how to operate the small cannon Keeling had given to the Zamorin.

The factory,the first English factory on Malabar coast,didn't prosper.When Keeling sailed away,the Zamorin,disappointed with the amount of help he had received,failed to supply spices.A year later,when the fleet returned from the East,three of the men were taken away.A man and the boy were left behind to learn the language.The man soon died of dysentery,the boy,Edward Pearce,would,25 years later,start the Company's trade at Basra.

The Company had selected India as one of the destinations for its third expedition.Its main task was to collect spices from the eastern islands,but it was also instructed to investigate the market for English woollen goods in exchange for spices at Aden.It was also to assess the possibility of buying textiles in India to exchange for spices in the Far East.Its three ships left England on 12 March 1607.The Consent left early and caught the trade winds.The Dragon,captained by William Keeling,and the Hector,captained by William Hawkins,missed the wind and lost six months as they were blown to Brazil and then back to West Africa.There,while they waited for a good wind to round the Cape,Keeling's men gave performances of Hamlet and Richard II.In the Indian Ocean,the winds for Aden were unfavourable. It was decided that the Dragon should go directly to the East and the Hector go to India.

Keeling(1578-1620)had commanded the Susanna on the second Company voyage in 1604.During this his men were reduced to 14 and a ship from the fleet,had vanished.He discovered the Cocos(Keeling)Islands in 1609,as he was going home from Banda to England.

Red Dragon,used by the Company for five voyages to the East Indies,was originally,Scourge of Malice,a 38 gun ship,ordered by Goerge Clifford,3rd Earl of Cumberland.She was built and launched at Deptford dock yard in 1595.The description of the ship varies from 600 to 900 tons;it was named Scourge of Malice by Queen Elizabeth I.The Earl had built the ship to attack the Spanish Main,after Sir Francis Drake was defeated at San Juan in 1595.The Earl travelled in the ship's first voyage,till Plymouth,when he was recalled by the Queen.The fleet travelled forward,and its main mast was damaged in a violent storm.After repairs,it began a voyage as a flag ship of a fleet of 20 vessels,on 6 March 1598.The Earl wanted to capture Brazil.The fleet attacked the fort at San Juan and castle of El Morro,on 16 June.Though the fleet achieved honour for the country,the Earl made only about a tenth of the money he invested on the voyage.

East India Company bought the ship for 3700 pounds,though the Earl asked for 4000.Its first voyage under Company was on 13 February 1601,and the Commander was James Lancaster.It came upto Nicobar Islands.It captured a ship on a voyage from Santhome,Chennai,and looted its cargo of spices.The second voyage was on 25 March 1604 and the Commander,Sir Henry Middleton.It came to Surat in its 10th voyage,in September,1612.It secured trading rights at Surat.It was in the next voyage,begun on 23 February 1615,Keeling as Captain,it came to Calicut.Keeling's briefing was to restore Asian trading links.Keeling tried to smuggle his pregnant wife aboard the ship,but was not allowed.
On his return,King James I appointed Keeling a Groom of the Chamber and in C.1618,he was named Captain of Cowes Castle,on the Isle of Wight,where he died in 1620.

Keeling Island

A fragment of Keeling's diaries survives,which record the performances of Hamlet,off the coast of Sierra Leone,on 5 September 1607 and at Socrota,in 31 March,1608,and Richard II in Sierra Leone,30 September 1607.The fragment is suspected to be forgery.
The last voyage of the ship was in October 1619,commanded by Robert Bonner.It was attacked by a Dutch fleet at Secoo,and was taken or sunk.

The Hamlet performance in this ship is the first recorded performance of that play.

© Ramachandran 

Read,FRANCOISE PYRARD IN CALICUT

1607:FRANCOIS PYRARD IN CALICUT

The French Traveller was kidnapped in Calicut

Three accounts by French travellers,Francois Pyrard,Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Abbe' Carre',describe how everything changed in Portuguese India,during the 17th century.Of the three,Pyrard was in India,from 1608 to 1610,and was in Kerala.

Not much is known about Pyrard's early life.He came from Laval in northern France.Some businessmen from there and from Saint-Malo decided to set up a company to follow the Dutch and the English to the East.Two ships were commissioned and young Pyrard left with them from Saint-Malo in 1601,possibly as a purser.Storms delayed the expedition and it took over a year to reach the Maldives.As Pyrard's ship approached the islands,the captain was ill below decks,the first and second mate were drunk and the watch was asleep.The ship struck a reef.It was 2 July,1602.40 of the crew managed to get ashore with some of the ship's silver.The Maldivians arrested them,beat them,confiscated their silver and refused them food so that they were reduced to eating grass and rats.Many of them died.12 escaped and stole a ship,which they managed to sail to Quilon,in Kerala.The Portuguese seized them and consigned them to the galleys after which they were never heard of again.

Pyrard learned the local language in the islands.Then he became friendly with the Sultan and lived comfortably for five years.In 1607,the islands were invaded by some Bengalis,looking for Pyrard's ship's cannon.They rescued him and his three surviving companions and took them to Chittagong.From there,the Frenchmen took a ship to Calicut,hoping to meet up with the Dutch.The people of Zamorin received them warmly since they were also enemies of the Portuguese.However,just outside Calicut,Pyrard and two of his companions were kidnapped by some Portuguese.They were taken as prisoners to Cochin,where they were incarcerated to a prison so crowded that it was impossible to sleep lying down.They were then sent by ship to Goa.On board,a cable snapped and Pyrard was badly injured.

Pyrard's itinerary

When Pyrard arrived in Goa in 1608,he was very ill and shackled in irons.The chains were removed but he was weak to walk.He was carried to the Royal Hospital.It was founded by Alfonso de Albuquerque,Governor of Goa,and been supported by kings and viceroys.It was under the supervision of the Jesuits and was governed by elaborate rules t only admitted European single men,mostly soldiers.There were 1500 beds and Pyrard was tucked into one.He was impressed.

There were Indian servants always present and a Portuguese superintendent visited every hour.For supper on first day,Pyrard had,a large fowl roasted,with some dessert served on Chinese porcelain.He thought he is in the finest hospital in the world:

Beautifully draped,and lacquered with red varnish;some are chequered and some gilded;the sacking is of cotton,and the pillows of white calico filled with cotton;the mattresses and coverlets are of silk or cotton,adorned with different patterns and colours,the sheets etc are of very fine white cotton.Then came a barber,who shaved all our hair off;then an attendant brought water and washed us all over,and gave us drawers,a white shirt,a cap,and slippers,and also placed beside us a fan and and an earthen ware bottle of water for drinking,and a camber-pt,besides a towel and hand kerchief,which were changed every three hours.

Pyrard statue in Laval,without face

Despite the luxury,the hospital had a terrible reputation for mortality.A recent despatch to the king had reported that at least 300 or 400 men between the ages of 18-30 died there every year.25000 soldiers alone died there in the 17th century!

Three weeks later,Pyrard felt better,but was persuaded to remain there,till his companions recovered.When discharged,he was re arrested,taken to the prison.There was a private room for Christians.A month later,he was able to get a message to as French Jesuit,who made a plea on his behalf to the Viceroy.The Viceroy had considered executing Pyrard since he had violated the law against the French by travelling to the Portuguese East.After a month,he and his companions were released.Having no money,Pyrard enlisted as a soldier.Over the next two years,he was mostly in Goa.He wrote a full account of his life in Goa.There were 5000 Portuguese soldiers in Goa.

There were female slaves whose attraction was that they could play musical instruments,embroider or make sweets or preserves.And others that were virgins,for they,deem it no sin to have intercourse with their slaves.

Pyrard's fellow soldiers either lived with a woman or shared a lodging with a few colleagues.Those who hared were often supported by married woman or widows.Despite their dubious origin,the soldiers put on great show of being gentlemen.The Indian were amazed when we told them these fellows were sons of porters,cobblers,drawers of water and other vile craftsmen.

Pyrard street in Laval,France

Pyrard seemed to be extremely interested in the habits of the women,though there is no personal information about his actions.The women took their ease in their smocks or bajus,which are more transparent and fine than the most delicate crape of these parts;so their skin shows beneath as clearly as if they had nothing on;more than that,they expose the bosom to such an extent that one can see quite down to the waist....the women at Goa are exceedingly lewd,so amorous and so addicted to fleshly pleasures,that when they find the smallest opportunity,they fail not to use it.

These women,he wrote,used their servants and slaves to make assignations,even drugging their husbands so as to take their plasure,without risk.The viceroys would take any pretty woman they wanted,if necessary first sending their husbands away on official expeditions.

In 1609,an edict came from the king to the viceroy commanding him to expel any Dutch,English or French,in case they were spies.Pyrard managed to get a free passage on carrack going to Brazil.He received farewell sums from the viceroy,arch bishop and the rich,but his pocket was picked and the purse stolen.His companions helped him out and finally,he sailed in February,1610.He arrived back in his home town of Lavel,nearly ten years after his departure.It is said,he took to drink.But he published an account of his sojourn.
The second volume of The Voyage of Francois Pyrard of Laval to the East Indies contains a chapter,titled,The History of Kunhali,the Great Malabar Corsair,on Kunhali Marakkar.It almost runs into 19 pages,and differs with the accounts of historian De Cout9,who spoke to Kunhali and his hench man,Chinale in the Goa jail;it also differs from the account of Faria y Souza.

I am giving a very abridged version here,of the chapter on Kunhali(names unchanged):
During the viceroyalty of Dom Antonia de Noronha(1571-73),Kunhali the elder(uncle of the great corsair)native of Kurichi,eyed,Puthupatanam.With the Zamorin's permission,he built a fortress,Marakkar Kotta there.Their original house was at Kollam.They moved to Thikkodi about 1525.
On the death of the uncle,nephew Mahomet Kunhali Marakkar succeeded.He seized a ship from China;assisted the Captain and soldiers of the Queen Olala and also the Melique at Chaul.
By the end of 1591,the Viceroy Mathias de Albuquerque decided to send two armadas-one under Andre Furtado de Mendoza against the Raja of Jaffna and the second under Alvaro de Abranches against Kunhali.While approaching Ceylon,Furtado defeated a fleet of Kunhali,under Cutimusa,nephew of Kunhali,in a battle at Karativu.Cutimuasa escaped.
Just before the arrival of Alvaro,Jesuit captive,Francisco da Costa represented to the Zamorin,the advantages of a Portuguese alliance for the suppression of Kunhali.Alvaro was communicated with.The Viceroy agreed and a treaty was signed.Zamorin laid the foundation for a Catholic church.
The grand son of Vasco da Gama,Francisco da Gama(31) arrived as Viceroy in Goa on 22 May 1597.He became unpopular.He appointed his brother Dom Luis da Gama (30)as Commander of the armada against Kunhali.Though there was wide spread discontent against the appointment,Luis left Goa on 13 November 1597 to capture Kunhali.In a meeting with Luis at Calicut,the Zamorin demanded 30,000 patacoes and Portuguese soldiers.The Portuguese found this inadmissible,and declared Zamorin,an enemy.Luis returned.Zamorin altered his mind.By the end of 1598,the Zamorin camped outside Kunhali's fort,with a large army.In December,Luis left Goa.He had 1500 men.Arch Bishop Menezes was also leaving Goa,for Malabar.At a council at Kottakal,in which the Archbishop was present,a vote was taken for the attack on Kunhali.Then the Archbishop returned to Cochin,restrained the Cochin Raja and send a few ships to Malabar.
The forces were ready for the attack on 3 March,1599.Luiz da Sylva was the commander.on the 4th,a meteor was found in the night sky,which the Portuguese took as a bad omen.The fire signal was shown at midnight,instead of the early hours.da Sylva was shot through the head;two more commanders fell.Gama withdrew his force to Cochin;da Sylva's body was interred at Kannur.
Against the wishes of Gama,Furtado was made Chief Captain of Malabar.He came in December.The allied commanders,including the Zamorin met on 16 at Kunhali's ancestral home.The entire force was ready by February,1600.The final onslaught was planned on 7 March.Negotiations went on and Kunhali surrendered on 16 March.
Last of all came Kunhali with a black kerchief on his head,and a sword in his hand with the point lowered.He was at that time,a man of fifty,of middle height,muscular and broad shouldered.He walked between three of his chief moors.One of these was Chinale,a Chinese who had been a servant of Malaka,and said to have been the captive of the Portuguese,taken as a boy from a fusta and afterwards brought to Kunhali.
According to Pyrard's account,Kunhali fell at Zamorin's feet,but Furtado advanced,seizing Kunhali,by the arm.
The rest is history.

 Read,EDWARD BARLOW IN VALAPATTANAM

1670:EDWARD BARLOW IN VALAPATTANAM

Cows were costlier in Kerala than children 

Edward Barlow began writing a Journal,in captivity.He was held captive by a Dutch fleet in 1672,while he was working in the East India Company's merchant ship,The Experiment ,and taken to the Dutch stronghold of Batavia on Java.

He was confined there for a year,and to occupy his time,he began to draw and write up a journal of his voyages.Thereafter,he kept up his journal of his travels,until the end of his career.An extremely good draftsman,there are 127 coloured drawings in his manuscript,now at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.They are beautiful miniatures with accurate depictions of the ships portrayed,together with details of their armaments,rigging and flags.There are convincing action scenes with added vignettes of topography,fish,birds and animals.There are 55 pencilled outlines of ports and coast lines,in addition.The manuscript,has 225,000 words.The story of his first voyage for the Company -when he travelled to Mumbai,Surat,Goa and Malabar, is a graphic account of a seaman's life in the 17th century.

Journal of Barlow 1659-1703

From his Journal,we get details of his voyages to Valapattanam,Tanur,Ponnani, and Calicut.

Born near Manchester in 1642,Barlow grew up in a deprived house hold,according to Roy Moxham,who wrote,The Theft of India.His father was a poorly paid worker on the land and had six children.Barlow did odd jobs as a boy,on the land and in coal pits.This enabled him to buy clothes to replace the rags that had prevented him earlier from attending church.He left school at 13,after a rudimentary education,for an apprenticeship in the bleaching of textiles.Through a relative's friend,he gained a new apprenticeship,as chief master's mate of a Royal Navy ship,the Naseby.He was serving in it when it brought back Charles II at the Restoration.He worked on other war ships until 1662 and then moved to the merchant navy.He travelled to Portugal,Spain and Brazil.He swapped job between royal and merchant ships.

In 1672,on his second voyage for the Company,Barlow went to Java and Taiwan.He didn't know that war had been declared between England and the Dutch republic.Barlow's ship,The Experiment was intercepted by the Dutch and we got the Journal,as I said before.

Barlow made his first visit to the East as an ordinary sea man aboard the same ship.It was a 250 ton ship,with a crew of 60 and armed with 22 cannons,bound for India.It left England,together with two other Company ships in March 1670 and arrived at Bombay in September.There were some women on board ,who had come out to join their husbands in the Company's service.Several discovered that their husbands were already dead.

The ship took a few days to offload some of its cargo.Barlow noted that most of the people insider the fort were Indian Muslims or Portuguese-the Portuguese being paid he same as the English.He describes the strangely attired Indians outside the fort.

A week later,the ship discharged the rest of the cargo at Swally,near Surat.The shore was lined with the booths and tents of the local merchants.One of these merchants was engaged by each of the crew to purchase what they had brought to India and to sell them what they would carry home.

The ship then sailed to Goa.Barlow notes that although it had few commodities of its own,Goa's position and deep harbour made it a convenient place for trade.Since the Dutch had captured many of the Portuguese bases,there was little business.A laden ship went back to Portugal only every two or three years.

After leaving Goa,the ship continued down the coast to the Company's factory at Karwar,where it dropped off money and letters from England.Three days further south,it went up an estuary to the recently established Company base at Valapattanam.Some lead was off loaded for the Company to use in exchange for spices.Barlow bought some coconuts to take home to England as curios.He writes that the local people would not sell them cows,but that for a small sum,you may buy their children.One of the ship's men jumped into the water and disappeared ,presumed to have been taken by crocodiles.

From Valapattanam,the ship went south to Tanur and Ponnani to load the pepper that had been bought by the Company's factors.At first the Indians were wary of them,thinking they were Dutch-for there are few  in all East India of the country people but are fearful of them and cannot abide or love any of them,having been so absurd and their goods taken from them in so many places.

The ship was hit by an unseasonable storm.Barlow,being superstitious and distrstful of foreign religions,imagined this was a result of the inhabitants offering up as sacrifice one of their sons or daughters to their God,the Devil,and that Hellish Fiend,being offended at something,caused him to raise such a horrible tempest.

Going back north,the ship called at Calicut a few scattering houses,being destroyed by wars.Prostitutes were available cheap.Barlow was more shocked to see both men and women,some of the women heavily pregnant,wearing only a loin cloth.They collected a Company factor who wanted to go to Valapattanam.They also took on board three Dutchmen who were deserters from the Dutch East India Company at Cochin.At Valapattanam,they dropped the factor off and took on board the man he was replacing to carry him up to Karwar.

On 15 January 1671,Barlow watched India,disappear from sight.

Between 1670 and 1703,Barlow made nine voyages to India and the East.He rose to be chief mate.He was disappointed at not being made the captain.In 1683 he had a fight with the captain at Sumatra.he was put ashore and had to work his passage back to England.In 1692,while in India,he had severely caned a sea man for insubordination.The man had subsequently died.On the ship's return to England,his widow engaged a lawyer.Some of the dead man's ship mates supported her and,to avoid going before the courts,Barlow had to give her a sum of 50 pounds,a huge sum then.

Barlow was married  in 1678 to a maid servant of a friend in London.Two days after the marriage,he sailed for Jamaica.While he was away,his wife was caught in a house fire and miscarried.In 1695,their youngest child died of consumption.In 1705,Barlow was finally made the captain of an East Indiaman.Under his command,the Liampo left Portsmouth for the Red Sea.Before he left,Barlow made his will,leaving everything to his wife and children.Off the Mozambique coast,his ship was lost.Fortunately,his Journal was not on board.Hence this short note on him.

Please read,Life and Loves of Catherine Cooke in Kerala

KESARI AWARD FOR RAMACHANDRAN

THE KESARI RASHTRA SEVA AWARD,2014,FOR TOTAL CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM,WAS AWARDED TO ME ON 29,JANUARY,2016,AT HOTEL ALAKAPURI,KOZHIKODE,BY S RAMESAN NAIR,POET.IT CARRIED A CASH PRIZE OF RS 50,000,A CITATION AND A PLAQUE.THE JURY CONSISTED OF DR MGS NARAYANAN,M A KRISHNAN,LEELA MENON & P BALAKRISHNAN. THE UNI LINK TO THE STORY IS: http://www.uniindia.com/rama-chandran-biju-tharayil-selected-for-kesari-madhyama

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