The piece of history that
we did not reach much in our schools .. .. in 1731, the last of Nayaka Kings,
Vijayaranga Chokkanatha died without issue and was succeeded by his Queen Meenakshi
who adopted a son as heir to the throne.
Rebels however set up Vangaru Thirumalai, the father of the boy she
adopted. As the dispute became bigger, Nawab
of Arcot sent an army in 1734 under the command of his son Safdar Ali and
relation Chanda Saheb to seize any opportunity that might offer for getting possession ot
Trichinopoly. Chandasahen after offering
an oath that he would do nothing to Queen’s deteriment was admitted with a body
of troops into the city whereupon, he treasoned in usurping the Govt. ~ that
was the true colour of Chanda sahib !
In History of Travancore,
a few battles between the Travancore
Kings and the British at Kalakkadu are
recorded. Joannes de Lannoy, the only son of Eustachius De Lannoy, was killed
in battle of Kalakkad on 14 Sept 1765. Eustache Benoît de Lannoy was a
French-born naval commander of the Dutch East India Company, who was sent by
the company to help establish a trading post at Colachel, but was defeated at
the Battle of Colachel by the Travancore army under Maharaja Marthanda Varma in
1741, and subsequently became a valiant and successful commander of the same
foreign army that had defeated him.
Kalakkad is a Panchayat town in Tirunelveli district. The town is centered on the Sathya Vageeswarar Temple. Calakkadu was a scene of frequent struggles during 1750s ~ but have we ever read anything on this place in our History books ? – in schools ?? - there were battles of : Nelkattumseval, Kalakkadu, siege of Srivilliputhur, Tirunelveli, Settur, Vasudevanallur and more !
Indian history was
written by the British and distorted by Red orientation. We have
read a lot in schools about the Battle of Plassey in
which British East India Company scored a decisive victory over the
Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the
commander in chief of the Nawab's army, and also promised him to make him Nawab
of Bengal. He defeated the Nawab at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta. Major-General Stringer Lawrence first
Commander-in-Chief, seems to have entered the army in 1727 and served in
Gibraltar and Flanders, subsequently taking part in the Battle of Culloden. In
1748, with the rank of major and the reputation of an experienced soldier, he came
down to India to command the East India Company's troops. He successfully
foiled an attempted surprise by Dupleix's French troops at Cuddalore, but was
captured by a French cavalry patrol at Ariancopang (modern Ariankuppam). He was kept prisoner by the French until the
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. He fought as a
senior officer under Robert Clive ! In
1757 he served in the operations against Wandiwash.
We read in our books ‘the
uprising of 1857’ not as a National movement, not as a freedom struggle but as
sepoy mutiny, an uprising by a group of soldiers. Perhaps sons of
cow belt soil would remember the movie - Mangal Pandey - The Rising
(The Rising - Ballad Of Mangal Pandey) and the hero of the
movie. .. .. .. he was not the first man though, and Uprising – the
National struggle of 1857 was not the first fight against British East India
Company. Down under, we have read about the exploit of Poligars (Nayakars) –
the name and exploits became legendary more because of the 1959 tamil film
“Veerapandiya Kattabomman” written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy and
directed by B. R. Panthulu. Everybody aspiring to become an actor would try to
repeat those immortal dialogues uttered by Sivaji Ganesan.
There have been many rulers
in this part of land, around the 15th century it was
Pandyan dynasty, then Nayakas, as the Vijayanagara Telugus were
called. Madura was fortified Nayakas; the constitution of the Polygars,
ancestors of present Zemindars of Tinnevelly and Madura, is assigned
by tradition to Visvanatha Nayaka, and was by far the most important political
event of the time. There were Maravars and Thevars who fought for
freedom. On this day 304 years ago (1st Sept
1715) was born “Puli thevar”. Nelkattum Seval was the headquarters
of Puli thevar, the first Chieftain in India to resist the British. Nelkatum
seval is chiefly memorable as having been in the eighteenth century strong hold
of the redoubtable Puli Thevar, who figured for many years as a leader against
the troops of the Nawab and the company. “Nelkattum Serval” literally
translates to “Rice tribute paying place”, but after its ruler Puli Thevan’s
successful attempts, the name changed to nel kattan serval (“place which would
not pay rice as tax)
Pulithevan is regarded as
the first ruler in Indian history, who sowed the seed, by his gallant
resistance, to expel from his nature land even before the 1806 revolt of
Vellore and Sepoy mutiny in 1857. Puli thevar was an illustrious
ruler in the chequered history of Palayakarars. As Puli
Thevar refused the British demand for the payment of fief as an acceptance of
their lordship over him, they launched an attack on Thevar. Puli Thevar’s
informant in the British camp, the interpreter of Heron, sent him news that the
British were short on supplies and did not have much heavy artillery. Hearing
this Thevar decided to hold the British attack further. There were so many
battles involving Pulithevan and the ones read at the start of the post were
the battles fought by him.
Understanding fully well
that the British would not back down and would come back to attack his people
again, Puli Thevar sent one of his generals to Travancore to win over the
support of Maharaja Marathanda Varma who was the regent of Travancore. The
general managed to convince His Majesty to support the Poligar confederacy lead
by Puli Thevar and returned back with 4000 troops. The name Puli in
Tamil means a Tiger, and this brave devotee of Mahadeva was one who lived to
his name. Unmatched in skill of warfare, understanding of politics and full of
fire this man was born to be a rebel. Not a rebel without cause, rather a rebel
against Adharma.
In contrast, Yusuf Khan
was employed as commander of East India Company’s native troops in which
capacity, he showed ability and zeal to the satisfaction of European superiors,
that at the recommendation of Genl Lawrence, then C-in-C, the Govt on 25th
Mar 1754 conferred upon him a regular commission and presented him a gold medal
for doing them favours. This Khan Yusuf
Khan aka Marudhanayagam battled Puli Thevar, the Poligar. First he and East India Co convinced Raja of
Travancore to make alliance with Nawab and work against Puli thevar. He captured some of Puli’s forts however, in
1760 suffered a humiliating defeat against the thevar. According to legends and folk songs – Yusuf khan’s
forces were driven from Nelkattumseval to the outskirts of Madurai. He retreated and returned with more troops
and inflicted severe casualties on Poligars.
~ and the actor is bent upon glorifying this character by the film, the
trailer of which was attended by Queen Victoria and the loans that were taken
by some accounts sank one reputed Chit fund company. Forget those people, let
us salture Pulithevan and innumerable martyrs who fought for our freedom.
Today
we remember this fighter and salute those innumerable warriors but for whom, we
would not be enjoying the fruits of freedom
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
1st Sept
2019.
Pic credit : twitter image.
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