Hyderabad: As the country celebrates its 75th Independence Day, the rulers and fighters who waged a battle to liberate their homeland from British domination cannot be forgotten. The name of Kerala Varma Pazhassiraja, the brave warrior who led the revolution in the Malabar region of Kerala, still needs to be mentioned in the history of independence. The riots in Kerala's Wayanad under the leadership of Pazhassiraja are a valorous chapter in the struggle against the British Empire.
After Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, no one else troubled the British in the south as Pazhassiraja did. Ironically, he fought against the Mysoreans Hyder and Tippu allying with the British but he soon realized the intentions of the East India Company. While the other kings of Kerala accepted the rule of the East India Company and taxed the people for British exploitation, Pazhassiraja refused. He stood with the people and decided to fight against the British hegemony.
Against the guns and gun powder and organized British Army, Pazhassiraja marched an army with bows and arrows. But he inflicted damage to the British forces beyond recovery. He led a revolt against the British from 1793 to 1805 till he died in the battle.
The guerrilla warfare waged by Pazhassiraja with the help of the Nair soldiers and the Kurichya soldiers was intense. The forests of Kannavam and Wayanad witnessed this resistance against the British. Veera Pazhassi was also the one who maintained the morale of his army intact in the face of the guns and ammunition of the British army.
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So intense and tactical were the fighting skills of Pazhassi's army, the East India Company suffered a massive defeat at Periya pass in 1797. The company had to sign a treaty with the Raja. Pazhassiraja's forces kept harassing the company during the peace treaty between 1797 to 1800. But the fall of Tipu, the one-time nemesis and fellow-in arms later, in 1800 kind of turned the wind in favour of the British.
More than valour, the British tackled Pazhassi with their usual deceit and treachery. They looked for traitors and raised them into troops who came to be known as Kolkars. With one guerilla army pitted against another guerilla army, the British managed to isolate Pazhassiraja into Wayanad.
What a seasoned military genius like Arthur Wellesly could not achieve, a civil servant rather a cunning one like Thomas Hervy Baber achieved with treachery. He sourced local informants, though he could not find many, who betrayed Pazhassi's location.
Pazhashiraja died in 1805 on the banks of the Mavilamthodu river near the Kerala-Karnataka border. There are two stories about his death. Some claim that he committed suicide by swallowing a diamond ring without being captured by the British army. Another group says he was shot dead by the British.
The story that the British brought Veera Pazhassi's body to the top of the Mananthavady hill from the banks of the Mavilamthodu river with the utmost respect is historic. But there are still not enough monuments to Talakkal Chanthu and Edachena Kunkan, the generals of Pazhassi. Historians demand that the history of the struggle of Veera Pazhassi, which is scattered in various archives, be reconciled and that the archives of the Pazhassi revolution be recovered.
Two monuments of Veera Pazhassi are located in Wayanad to mark his struggles. The Pazhassi Memorial Stupa on the banks of the Pulpally Mavilamthodu where Pazhassi Raja was martyred and the Pazhassi Tomb at Mananthavady are reminiscent of his unparalleled fighting stories.
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