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Kolattunādu () ( Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful Realm on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along with Zamorin, the kingdom of Cochin and Venad. Kolattunādu had its capital at Ezhimala and was ruled by the Kolathiri and roughly comprised the North Malabar region of Kerala state in India. Traditionally, Kolattunādu is described as the land lying between the Chandragiri river in the north and the Korappuzha river in the south.Keralolpatti Granthavari: The Kolattunad Traditions (Malayalam) (Kozhikode: Calicut University, 1984) M. R. Raghava Varier (ed.) The Kolathunadu (Kannur) kingdom at the peak of its power, reportedly extended from the Netravati River (Mangalore) in the north to Korapuzha (Kozhikode) in the south with the Arabian Sea on the west and Kodagu hills on the eastern boundary, also including the isolated islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
The ruling house of Kolathunādu, known as the , were descendants of the Mushika kingdom, an ancient dynasty of Kerala, and rose to become one of the major political powers in the Kerala region, after the disappearance of the Cheras of Mahodayapuram and the Pandyan Dynasty in the 12th century AD.Perumal of Kerala by M. G. S. Narayanan (Kozhikode: Private Circulation, 1996)
The Kolathiris trace their ancestry back to the ancient Mushika kingdom (Ezhimala kingdom, Eli-nadu) of the Tamil Sangam age. After King Nannan of the Mushika dynasty was killed in a battle against the Cheras, the chronicled history of the dynasty is obscure, except for a few indirect references here and there. However, it is generally agreed among conventional scholars that the Kolathiris are descendants of King Nannan, and later literary works point towards kings such as Vikramaraman, Jayamani, Valabhan and Srikandan of the Mushika Dynasty. The Indian anthropologist Ayinapalli Aiyappan states that a powerful and warlike clan of the Bunt community of Tulu Nadu was called Kola Bari and the Kolathiri Raja of Kolathunadu was a descendant of this clan. The more famous Travancore royal family is a close cousin dynasty of the Kolathiris.
Though the Kolattiris were generally credited with superior political authority over the zone between the kingdoms of Kanara and Zamorin's Calicut, their political influence was more or less confined to Kolattunādu.Duarte Barbosa, The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants, II, ed. M. L Dames (repr., London: Hakluyt Society, 1921)The Dutch in Malabar: Selection from the Records of the Madras Government, No. 13 (Madras: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Press, 1911), 143.
Ezhimala, their ancient capital, was one of the most important trading centres on the Malabar coast along with Kollam and Calicut, and found mention in the writings of Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo and Wang Ta-Yuan. In the course of time, their territories were divided into a number of petty vassal principalities, chief among them Arakkal kingdom, Cotiote and Wynad, Cartinad (Badagara), Irvenaad, and Randaterra. The so-called "Five Friendly Northern Rulers" (Nilesvaram, Kumbla, Vitalh, Bangor, and Chowtwara) were contiguous to Kolattnad, north of the Kavvayi river. They engaged in frequent rivalry with their powerful neighbors in the south, the of Calicut—a permanent feature of Kerala history. The caste restrictions and Korapuzha boundary between North Malabar and the Zamorin's kingdom were established after their rivalry. Some historical accounts also suggest that the Kolathunad kingdom was friendly with the Travancore kingdom and the Tulu kingdom kingdom.
Cherusseri Namboothiri (c. 1375-1475 AD), the author of Krishna Gatha, a landmark in the development of Malayalam literature, lived in the court of Udayavarman Kolattiri, one of the kings of the Kolathiri dynasty.
Christian missionary Samuel Mateer opined: "There seems reason to believe that the whole of the kings of Malabar also, notwithstanding the pretensions set up for them of late by their dependents, belong to the same great body, and are homogeneous with the mass of the people called Nairs, So Namboodiris were reluctant to give Kshtriyahood to all the Nair lords, In 1617 A.D Kolathiri Rāja, Udayavarman, wished to further promote himself to Soma Kshatriya by performing Hiranya-garbhā, which the Nambũdiris refused. Consequently, Udayavarman brought 237 Brahmin families (Sāgara Dwijas) from Gokarnam and settled them in five Desams. (Cheruthāzham, Kunniriyam, Arathil, Kulappuram and Vararuchimangalam of Perinchelloor Grāmam). The latter adopted Nambũdiri customs and performed Hiranya-garbhā and conferred Kshatriyahood on the former.Srauta Sacrifices in Kerala (Kozhikode: Calicut University, 2002), 98 by V. Govindan Namboodiri;Freeman, ‘Purity and Violence’, 527-8
Pliny the Elder (1st century CE) states that the port of Tyndis was located at the northwestern border of Keprobotos (Chera dynasty).Gurukkal, R., & Whittaker, D. (2001). In search of Muziris. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 14, 334-350. The North Malabar region, which lies north of the port at Tyndis, was ruled by the kingdom of Ezhimala during Sangam period.A. Shreedhara Menon, A Survey of Kerala History According to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a region known as Limyrike began at Kannur and Tyndis. However the Ptolemy mentions only Tyndis as the Limyrike's starting point. The region probably ended at Kanyakumari; it thus roughly corresponds to the present-day Malabar Coast. The value of Rome's annual trade with the region was estimated at around 50,000,000 sesterces.According to Pliny the Elder, goods from India were sold in the Empire at 100 times their original purchase price. See [1] Pliny the Elder mentioned that Limyrike was prone by pirates.Bostock, John (1855). "26 (Voyages to India)". Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. London: Taylor and Francis. The Cosmas Indicopleustes mentioned that the Limyrike was a source of peppers.Indicopleustes, Cosmas (1897). Christian Topography. 11. United Kingdom: The Tertullian Project. pp. 358–373.Das, Santosh Kumar (2006). The Economic History of Ancient India. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 301.
During the Sangam period, the early centuries of the Christian era, both present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu were considered part of a common cultural realm and a common geographical settlement pattern, in spite of being under distinct political entities. More specifically, Tamil anthologies of the early Christian era make no sharp cultural or social distinction between the Pandyas, the Cheras, or the Cholas, and the Velir chiefs, all operating within a common cultural and geographical milieu. Also later, the Hindu temples on the western coast were also included in the sacred geography of the Tamil Bhakti movement and were profusely praised by the Alwars and Nayanars, the main proponents of the movement, in their verses.Foundations of South Indian Society and Culture by M. G. S. Narayanan, (Delhi: Bharatiya Book Corporation, 1994), 194
In the Tamilakam Sangam Period, northern Malabar like the rest of present-day Kerala, Tulu Nadu, Kodagu district, and some parts of Tamil Nadu was under the rule of the Cheras. A branch of the Cheras (and others like the Pandyas and Cholas) with its capital at Ezhil mala (and with second capital at Pazhi), known as the Mushika dynasty ruled the area on behalf of the Cheras. Ezhil mala (Mount Deli in European accounts) and its neighboring regions became dynamic centers of sociopolitical activities in the early centuries of the Christian era.Kolathupazhama by Kumaran The Ezhil mala kingdom (Konka-nam, a part of the Puzhi-nadu) comprised practically the whole of the ypresent Kannur and Wayanad districts and a portion of the Tulu country and parts of Coorg and Gudalur as well. This was the north-westernmost Tamil speaking area of the ancient Tamil country. Ezhimala kingdom based at Ezhimala had jurisdiction over two Nadus - coastal Poozhinadu and the hilly eastern Karkanadu. According to the works of Sangam literature, Poozhinadu consisted much of the coastal belt between Mangalore and Kozhikode. Karkanadu consisted of Wayanad-Gudalur, a hilly region with parts of Kodagu (Coorg).
It is said that Nannan, the most renowned ruler of Ezhimala dynasty, took refuge at Wayanad hills in the 5th century CE when he was lost to Chera dynasty, just before his death in a battle, according to the Sangam works. Ezhimala kingdom was succeeded by the Mushika dynasty in the early medieval period, most possibly due to the migration of from Tulu Nadu. The Kolathunadu (Kannur) kingdom, who were the descendants of the Mushika dynasty, at the peak of its power reportedly extended from Netravati River (Mangalore) in the north to Korapuzha in the south with Arabian Sea on the west and Kodagu hills on the eastern boundary.
Nannan of Ezhil mala was the most celebrated ruler of this dynasty. Surviving Tamil anthologies draw a brilliant picture of Nannan and describe his engagements with ruling elites such as the Chera Dynasties. He was more of a tribal chieftain who engaged primarily in plundering raids in the neighboring territories.Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Antecedent of the State Formation in South India’, in R. Champakalakshmi, Kesavan Veluthat, T. R. Venugopalan, (eds.), State and Society in Pre-modern South India (Trissur: Cosmobooks, 2002), pp. 39-59
However, in the beginning of the 1st century AD, the kingdom of Ezhil mala rose to political prominence under Nannan with his capital at Pazhi. Nannan was a warrior king who conducted expeditions deep into the interior regions and brought the Wynad-Gudalur region and a part of Kongunadu (Salem-Coimbatore region) under his control. According to Tamil poets he made several victories (including the Battle of Pazhi) over the Cheras. King Narmudi Cheral, the successor of Sel Kelu Kuttuvan, sent Chera forces under General Migili against Nannan. But, he was defeated in the Battle of Pazhi against the Ezhil mala forces. But later, Nannan was defeated in a series of subsequent engagements. He was forcesd to flee his capital Pazhi and seek asylum in Wynad hills. The battles ended when Narmudi Cheral crushed Nannan's forces in the Battle of Vagai Perum Turai. According to Agananuru, Nannan was killed in the battle. After his death, the control of the Ezhimala kingdom came under the Cheras.
The city of Pazhi, the later capital of the Ezhil mala kingdom, was famous for its rich treasures of gold and precious stones. They had close trade relations with the ancient Romans on Malabar Coast.
North Malabar was a hub of Indian Ocean trade during this era. According to Mappila tradition, Kolathunadu was home to several of the oldest mosques in the Indian subcontinent. According to the Legend of Cheraman Perumals, the first Indian mosque was built in 624 AD at Kodungallur with the mandate of the last ruler (the Cheraman Perumal) of Chera dynasty, who left from Dharmadom to Mecca and converted to Islam during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 570–632).
According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Mosque at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, mMangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Koyilandy, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in Indian Subcontinent.Prange, Sebastian R. Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the medieval Malabar Coast. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pg. 98. It is believed that Malik Dinar died at Thalangara in Kasaragod.Pg 58, Cultural heritage of Kerala: an introduction, A. Sreedhara Menon, East-West Publications, 1978
Most of them lie in the erstwhile region of Ezhimala. The Koyilandy Jumu'ah Mosque contains an Old Malayalam inscription written in a mixture of Vatteluttu and which dates back to the 10th century CE.Aiyer, K. V. Subrahmanya (ed.), South Indian Inscriptions. VIII, no. 162, Madras: Govt of India, Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932. p. 69. It is a rare surviving document recording patronage by a Hindu king (Bhaskara Ravi) to the of Kerala.
Between the 9th and 12th centuries, a dynasty called "Mushaka" controlled the Chirakkal areas of northern Malabar (the Wynad-Tellichery area was part of the second Chera kingdom). The Mushakas were probably the descendants of the ancient royal family of Nannan of Ezhi mala and were perhaps a vassal of the Cheras. Some scholars have expressed the view that Mushakas were not under the Cheras, since the ruler of Mushaka does not figure along with the rulers of Eralnadu and Valluvanadu as a signatory in the famous Terisappalli and Jewish Copper Plates. Up to the 11th century, the Mushaka kings followed patrilineal system of succession, and thereafter they gradually switched over to the matrilineal system. In his book on travels ( Il Milione), Marco Polo recounts his visit to the area in the mid 1290s. Other visitors included Faxian, the Buddhist pilgrim and Ibn Batuta, writer and historian of Tangiers.
Mushika-vamsha, a Sanskrit poem written by Atula, describes a number of Mushaka kings such as Vikrama Rama, Jayamani, Vallabha II and Srikantha. Atula was the court poet of King Srikantha who ruled towards the end of the 11th century AD.
King Vikrama Rama is said to have saved the famous Buddhist vihara of Sri Mulavasa from a terrible sea erosion on the Malabar Coast. Prince Vallabha II was dispatched by King Jayamani to assist the Chera forces during the invasion of the Chola ruler Kulottunga. However, before he could join with the Chera army, he heard the death of his father and he returned to the capital to prevent the usurpation of the Mushaka throne by his enemies. On reaching the capital, he defeated his rivals and ascended the throne. Vallabha II also founded the port of Marahi (Madayi) at the mouth of Killa river and the port of Valabha Pattanam (Valiaptam). The city of Valabha Pattanam was protected with lofty towers and high walls. He also annexed Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi islands in the Arabian sea. Srikantha (also known as Raja Dharma), his younger brother, succeeded Vallabha II.
According to the Mushika Vamsa, Rama Ghata Mushaka established the lineage of Kola Swarupam.Mushikavamsam. Raghavan Pilla (ed.), Mushikavamsam, 26, 268 In addition, an inscription dating to 929 AD mentions about one Vikrama Rama, identifiable with the ruler Vikrama Rama who appears in the Mushika Vamsa.Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Silakal (Malayalam) by M. G. S. Narayanan, (Kozhikode: Lipi Publications, 2000), 85-99 Another inscription from 10th century AD mentions a chieftain, Udaya Varma, who bore the title "Rama Ghata Muvar"— an epithet used by the Mushaka kings. An inscription from the Tiruvattur temple mentions an Eraman Chemani (Rama Jayamani) who is identifiable with the king who appears as the 109th ruler in the Mushika Vamsa.A History of Mushikavamsa by N. P. Unni, (Trivandrum: College Book House, 1978), 14
They intermarried very frequently with the Chera Dynasty, the Pandyas and the Cholas, and also might have given rise to the royalties of the Lakshadweep and the Maldives. The Mushaka family has found mention in surviving mythical Indian texts like the Vishnu Purana and also in Greek accounts like that of Strabo. The Kolathiris are praised as Vadakkan Perumals ("Kings of the North") by the noted "Keralolpathi".Varier, Keralolpatti Granthavari, 51
Foreign accounts also corroborate the distinct identity of Kolathunadu. Marco Polo, who visited Malabar coast in the 12th century, noticed the independent status of the king of this region.The Book of Ser Marco Polo: The Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, III, 3rd edn. ed. Henry Yule and Henri Cordier (repr., Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1975), 385 The 14th century narrative of Ibn Battuta refers to the ruler of this region as residing at a city called Balia Patanam.The Rehla of Ibn Battuta (India, Maldive Islands and Ceylon), tr. and commentary by Mahdi Husain (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1953), 186 This offers a clue that by this time, the capital of Kolathunadu had shifted from Ezhil mala to Balia Patanam, a town located south of Ezhil mala. In the 16th century, a Portuguese official Duarte Barbosa also mentions Balia Patanam ("Balia Patam" in European records) as the residence of the king of Cannanore.
Until the 16th century CE, Kasargod town was known by the name Kanhirakode (may be by the meaning, 'The land of Kanhira Trees') in Malayalam. The Kumbla dynasty, who swayed over the land of southern Tulu Nadu wedged between Payaswini and Netravati River (including present-day Taluks of Manjeshwar and Kasaragod) from Maipady Palace at Kumbla, had also been vassals to the Kolathunadu kingdom of North Malabar, before the Kannada conquests of Vijayanagara Empire. The Kumbla dynasty had a mixed lineage of Malayali and . They also claimed their origin from Cheraman Perumals of Kerala. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton states that the customs of Kumbla dynasty were similar to those of the contemporary Malayali kings, though Kumbla was considered as the southernmost region of Tulu Nadu. During the 17th century, Kannur was the capital city of the only Muslim Sultanate in the Malabar region - Arakkal - who also ruled the Laccadive Islands in addition to the city of Kannur.
The port at Kozhikode held the superior economic and political position in medieval Kerala coast, while Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi, were commercially important secondary ports, where the traders from various parts of the world would gather. The Portuguese, Indian Ocean and European Bridgeheads 1500–1800. Festschrift in Honour of Prof. K. S. Mathew (2001). Edited by: Pius Malekandathil and T. Jamal Mohammed. Fundacoa Oriente. Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities of MESHAR (Kerala) The Portuguese arrived at Kappad Kozhikode in 1498 during the Age of Discovery, thus opening a direct sea route from Europe to India.DC Books, Kottayam (2007), A. Sreedhara Menon, A Survey of Kerala History The St. Angelo Fort at Kannur was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India.
The administration was conducted through chiefs-in-tenant under the Kolattiri. This included dignitaries called "nāduvazhis", "desavazhis" and "mukhyastans". The nāduvazhis, who were heads of "nādus" or districts headed Nair militias of 500 -20,000. Below the nāduvazhis in the administrative hierarchy were desavazhis who were heads of hamlets called "desams". These were divisions of nādus. Desavazhis headed Nair militias ranging from 100 to 500 men. Below the desavazhis were other local potentates called mukhyastans. However, as in any feudal society, the Kolattiris were unable to centralize their state and the inability of the Kolattiris to monopolize the use of force in the realm on account of their weak economic position meant that the outward appearance of regal authority remained more or less nominal.
It appears the Kolathiris never exercised a monopoly of authority in the realm. Authority was a decentralized, shared, and pluralistic entity. The kingly status attributed to the Kolathiris remained more or less a nominal one. The Kolathiris had to sustain their political dignity within the constraints set by the limits of their economic resource base as the geographical features of Kolathunādu did not guarantee a large-scale agricultural surplus. Shaped by the limited agrarian economy in Kolathunādu, the possibility of a centralized political structure to emerge was limited.Female Initiation Rites on the Malabar Coast, Gough, Kathleen 1955a, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
This constricted opportunity to exploit the limited agricultural surplus obviously restricted the chances of the Kolathiris to exercise considerable influence over the people of the region. Instead, there emerged a fluctuating field of powerful taravādus of Nāyars exercising control over the resources from their respective landed properties and the dependent labour-service classes. The inability of the Kolathiris to monopolize the use of force in the realm on account of their weak economic position meant that the outward appearance of regal authority remained more or less nominal.
The Kolathiri Dominion emerged into independent 10 principalities i.e., Kadathanadu (Vadakara), Dharmadom or Poyanad (Dharmadom), Kottayam (Thalassery), Nileshwaram, Iruvazhinadu (Panoor, Kurumbranad etc., under separate royal chieftains due to the outcome of internal dissensions. The Poyanad (Randu Thara) and a vast area of land including (Anjarakkandy, Chembilod, Mavilayi, Edakkad, and Dharmadam) up to New Mahe was ruled by achanmaar of Randuthara. Randuthara Achanmār is a conglomerate of 4 Nambiār families (Kandoth, Palliyath, Āyilliath and Arayath) who were descendants of Edathil Kadāngodan and Ponnattil Māvila and were chieftains of Poyanādu. The "Achanmar's" later came under the special care of the English East India Company.
The Nileshwaram dynasty on the northernmost part of Kolathiri dominion, were relatives to both Kolathunadu as well as the Zamorin of Calicut, in the early medieval period.
1689: Kolattiri Rājā and his prince regent (Vadakkālankũr), to protect the latter from his adversary Kurangoth nāyar, sent an ultimatum to the then British interlopers in Malabar to let them know that they could continue to trade in north Malabar only if they agreed to build a factory in the area.
1708: Completion of Thalassery fort.
1722 : The French claim for a factory was staked at Māhe to protect their interest in Malabar Coast. They started to wage a war against the Vāzhunor of Vadakara with a view to establishing a factory in Māhe which was only three miles south of Thalassery. Kolattiri through a royal writing granted to the East India Company ’all the trades and farms’ within his ’territory from Canharotte down the Pudupatnam river’, excluding the areas where concessions were held by the Dutch who were based at Kannũr. The British were also authorized to ’punish, prevent and driveaway’ ’any other stranger’ who interfered with their concessions.
1725: France established factory at Māhe by making a deal with Vāzhunor.
1720s Ali Raja of Arackal attacked the then Prince Regent of Kolathunād, Cunhi Homo and he approaches the British for succour in return for the privileges and factory granted to them by his uncle the Kolathiri.
August 1727 : Chief of Thalassery informs the Prince Regent that it is the policy of the Bombay Presidency to supply local potentates with ammunition to wage wars at their own expense.
1728 Chief of Thalassery, Adams, was recalled to Bombay and Prince regent asks for military assistance from Netherlands at Cochin. The Dutch demanded the port of Dharmapatanam in return. The East India Company fearing Dutch influence supplied Kolathunād with 20,000 fanams of military stores and Ali Rājā was silenced. The British in return were given exclusive permission over other Europeans to buy spices in Kolathunādu by Prince Udaya Varman.
1732-34: Kanarese invaded North Malabar in 1732 at the invitation of the Arackal Raja. Under the command of Gopalaji, 30,000 strong Kanarese soldiers, easily overran Cunhi Homo's forts in northern Kolathunād. Early in 1734 the Kanarese soldiers captured Kudali and Dharmapatanam
1736: Kanarese army was driven out of the whole of North with assistance from the British but the Prince Regent incurs a huge debt with the factors at Tellichery as a result 1737: Nayaks of Bednur plan another attack on Kolathunādu. Prince Cunhi Homo agreed to sign a peace treaty with the Kanarese which fixed the northern border of Kolathunād on the Madday. The factors of Tellicherry also signed their own treaty with the Nayak of Bednure which guaranteed the integrity of British trading concessions in Malabar in the event of future conflicts between the Kanarese and the rulers of Kolathunād.
1739-42 Prince Ockoo, a French supported adversary of the Prince regent and his followers were killed by the factors of Tellichery.
1741 Prince regent asked his vassals, the Achanmārs of Randuthara to contribute 30,000 fanams towards defraying state debt. The Achanmārs refused. Prince Regent's threatened to assume the collection of tribute in Randuthara unless the Achanmārs agreed. the British arranged to pay the Prince Regent the sum of 30,000 fanams on behalf of the Achanmārs in exchange for the land revenue collection of Randuthara. Thus the debt trap was an important instrument which the British used to secure the monopoly of trade in Malabar.
1745: The direct relations which the factors of Tellicherry were cultivating with the vassals of Kolathunād, however, tended to alienate the Kolattiri. The Prince Regent of Kolathunād accused the factors of Tellicherry of interfering ’too much in the government of his country’.
1746: Death of Prince Udaya Varman. The disintegration of the Kolathiri's dominion had started and the English fanned dissensions in the royal family. The British started taking control of more and more area by purchasing land through consorts of the royal family.
October 1747: Minor war between Kolathiri and factors at Tellichery who using Prince Raman Unithiri ’chastized’ ’ant-British ministers’ in the samastanom. On succession due to Prince Cunhi Homos death, Prince Cunhi Raman tried to ambition to reaffirm his authority upon his Vassals to the East India Company concern. Having consolidated his authority, Prince Cunhi Raman embarked on a policy of centralizing the administration of Kolathunād so as to acquire more power over his vassals. He expressed the desire to collect the land revenue of Randuthara because he felt that the Achanmār no longer obeyed him.
1749: Prince Cunhi Raman threatened to appoint his own sons to administer the taluks of Iruvalinad and Kadattanad. In the same year, however, the Boyanore cut the last links of Vassalage with the Kolathunād palace and declared himself Rājā of Kadattanad. The Nambiārs of Iruvalinād threatened to follow suit. The Achanmār of Randuthara appealed to the British for more protection. Kolathunād was being dismembered. The Kolattiri and his Prince Regent were being forced to withdraw to Kolathunād ’proper’ and so restrict their authority to what was to become the taluk of Chirakkal.
April 1751: Following the Boyanore's assumption of the title of Rājā, Prince Cunhi Raman declared war on Kadattanad, Iruvalinad where the East India Company had acquired the monopoly of buying pepper. Following many discussions, the factors managed to convince the Kolattiri (the Senior Rājā of Kolathunād) to dismiss Prince Kunhi Raman and appointed Ambu Tamban as Prince Regent in the presence of Thomas Derryl of the East India Company at Thalassery.
October 1751: Prince Cunhi Raman allowed the French to fortify Mount Delli so as to disrupt the British rice trade between Mangalore and Tellicherry.
January 1752: The Rājā of Cotiote mediated for a settlement between Tellicherry and Kolathunād.
1756: Death of Prince Cunhi Raman and succession by Prince Rama Varma.
1760: Death of Prince Rama Varma
August 1760: Unanamen Tamban (new Prince Regent) had Siben Putteiah, the leader of the pro-British faction in the Kolathunād Raj, blinded.
1761: Kolattiri dismisses the Prince Regent and took charge of the Kolathunād Raj directly and granted the British the right to collect all the custom duties of North Malabar on behalf of the samastanom. In 1761, the British captured Mahé, and the settlement was handed over to the ruler of Kadathanadu.
1763:The British restored Mahé to the French as a part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris.
1764: Prince of Chirakkal took over the administration of Kolathunād.
1765: Prince of Chirakkal recognized the dominant position of Tellicherry in the taluk of Randuthara by ceding the area to the East India Company.
Feb 1766: Hyder Ali along with a formidable force is welcomed into Kerala by the Ali Rājā of Kannũr. The Mysorean army guided by Ali Rājā and his brother seize the palace of the Rājā of Kolathiri at Chirakkal. The Rājā and his family flee south to take refuge at the English trading station in Thalassery. He appointed Ali Rājā as his Naval Chief (High Admiral) and the Rājā 's brother Sheik Ali as Chief of Port Authority (Intendant of Marine).
1773: Hyder Ali invaded Malabar for a second time in 1773 on the pretext that the Rajas of Malabar had not paid him tribute as agreed in 1768.
1779: In 1779, the Anglo-French war broke out, resulting in the French loss of Mahé.
1783: In 1783, the British agreed to restore to the French their settlements in India.
1785: Mahé was handed over to the French in 1785.
Feb 1789: Tipu Sultan enters Malabar for the second time as all the Rājā and Chieftains of North Malabar had revolted and declared their independence from Mysore. He devastated Kadathanād and marries off his son (Abdul Khalic) to the daughter of the Arackal Bibi of Kannũr. One of the princes of the Kolathiri family was killed by Tippu Sultan's soldiers during his escape and his dead body was dragged by elephants through Tippu's camp and it was subsequently hung up on a tree along with seventeen of his followers who had been captured alive.
May 1790: Tipu leaves Malabar never to return
March 1792: Malabar was formally ceded to the British. The British entered into agreements with the Rājā of Chirakkal, Kottayam and Kadathanād and all of them acknowledged the full sovereignty of the Company over their respective territories. The British Government divided the province of Malabar into two administrative divisions - the North Malabar and South Malabar, presided over by a superintendent each at Thalassery and Cherpulasseri, under the general control of the supervisor and chief magistrate of the province of Malabar who had his headquarters at Calicut.
1800: Malabar was made a part of the Madras Presidency
1801: Death of the last Kolathiri Rājā who ceded all his dominions to the British (was commonly known as the first Rājā of Chirakkal). Major Macleod took charge as the first principal collector of Malabar on 1 October 1801.
Kolathunād remained part of Malabar District (an administrative district of British India under Madras presidency till 1947 and later part of India's Madras State till 1956. On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act merging the Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern taluks, which were merged with Madras State.
The original kingdom of Kolathiri was partitioned along 5 matrilineal-divisions of the Kolathiri family and had rulers of the respective parts/ Kũr-Vāzhcha (part-dominions) namely Kolattiri, Tekkālankũr, Vadakkālankũr, Naalāmkũr, Anjāmkũr.
| The matrilinial divisions of the Kolathiri family (Kovilakams)Establishment of British power in Malabar, 1664 to 1799 By N. Rajendran | |||
| Udayamangalam | |||
| Palli | Chirakkal | ||
| Chenga | Prāyikkara at Māvelikkara, Ennakkāt' (Further divided into Ennakkāt and Māvelikkara) | ||
| Tevanam Kotta | |||
| Padinjāre | |||
| Thekumkure | Kolath kovilakam | ||
| Kāvinishery | |||
During the period of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan from 1766 to 1792 multiple military invasions, plunder and systematic forcible conversions were performed in North and South Malabar alike.Malabar Manual by William Logan (Printed and published by Charitram Publications under the editorship of Dr. C.K, Kareem, Trivandrum)Voyage to East Indies by Fra Bartolomaeo (Portuguese Traveller and Historian)Historical Sketches by Col. Wilks, Vol. II. Fearing forcible conversion, a significantly large section (Chieftains and Brahmins) of the 'Malabar' region, including the Kolathiri, fled with the material wealth of the temples in their dominions, to take refuge in the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore. Travancore had an alliance (Treaty of Mangalore) with the English Company according to which "an aggression against Travancore would be viewed as equivalent to declaration of war against the English". Thus at various time points between 1766 and 1792, all female members and many male members of Kolathiri family along with their temples' wealth, had taken refuge in Thiruvananthapuram. On the restoration of peace in Malabar, while the family went back, three sisters stayed back in Travancore at Mavelikkara. Dissensions resulted in one of them moving to Ennakkad while another settled at Prayikkara and other group settled in Kozhanchery. Thus three matrilinial branches of the Kolathiri family settled in Travancore and established the royal houses of Mavelikkara, Kozhanchery, Ennakkat and Prayikkara.
‘ Kolathiri had no right to ask them to perform a sacrifice since in the jurisdiction of Perumtrikkovilappan (the deity of the Rajarajeswara temple of Perumchellũr, Taliparamba) the order of any king would not be valid’ (The epithet of the deity rajarajeswara or king of the kings blatantly indicates the royal status assumed by the deity). As Historian Samuel Mateer; "There seems reason to believe that the whole of the kings of Malabar also, notwithstanding the pretensions set up for them of late by their dependents, belong to the same great body, and are homogeneous with the mass of the people called Nairs, So Namboodiris were reluctant to give Kshtriyahood to all the Nair lords, Consequently, Udayavarman brought 237 Brahmin families (Sāgara Dwijas) from Gokarnam and settled them in five Desams. (Cheruthāzham, Kunniriyam, Arathil, Kulappuram and Vararuchimangalam of Perinchelloor Grāmam). The latter adopted Nambũdiri customs and performed Hiranya-garbhā and conferred Kshatriyahood on the former. Later, on the request of Rājā of Travancore, 185 of these Sāgara dwijans families were sent to Thiruvalla. (Thiruvalladesi Embraanthiris).
(1) The traditional text Kerololpathi attributes the introduction of Kollam era to Shankaracharya. So if you convert the word "Aa chaa rya vaa ga bhed ya" (meaning Shankaracharya's word/law is unalterable) into numbers in the Katapayadi notation it translates into 0 6 1 4 3 4 1 and these written backwards gives the age of the Kali Yuga on the first year of the Kollam era. Kali day 1434160 would work out to be 25 September 825 A.D which corresponds to the beginning of Kollam era in Kolathunadu, i.e. the first day of the Kanya-raasi (Virgo).
(2) The second account is that Kollam era commenced with the proclamation made at Kollam.
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