Eman was a Wayanad Nair lord whose influence was paramount in Southern Wayanad. In 1799, he openly announced himself to be a supporter of British and joined camp of Arthur Wellesley as an adviser. Wellesley was involved in warfare to defeat Pazhassi rajah, who was overlord of Eman. Wellesley employed a number of Nair "advisers" to find out weak spots of Pazhassi military force and Eman was one of them - for his "services" to East India Company, he got 200 rupees per year as allowance.
Eman kept himself well informed of all decisions taken by Wellesley and forewarned Pazhassi rajah of plans hatched against him. Eman even planned a major catastrophe for British army - he persuaded Wellesley to sent British armies as five columns into Wayanad from all directions so that rebels in Wayanad could destroy the scattered British army units easily - but Wellesley disagreed and sent the whole force as a single unit.
Pazhassi rajah and his rebels had to go through tough time from 1801 - 1802 period. Rajah's army was smashed due to treachery of Pazhayamviden Chandu, who was once a trusted commander of Rajah. British troops hunted down Rajah and men and they kept up a running fight - in these days, Eman's reports proved to be of great help to Rajah.
But in 1802 after rebel capture of Panamaram fort, Eman's cover was blown and so he fled to forests to join hands with Raja. He persuaded Mullukurumbas, a warrior tribe, to join Raja's armies and due to close attachment they had with Eman, they joined Raja's force in great numbers.
Eman's men carried out a spectacular action in March 1803 - 1,000 rebels marched through Thamarasseri Defile towards Calicut and overran Sub-Jail which had 250 guards in a surprise raid. All guards were put to death and their arms and ammunition were seized and all prisoners freed - Many joined hands with rebels. This prompted a resignation by the then Collector of Malabar, Major McLeod.
Eman took a major role in warfare that followed in 1804 and 1805 till death of Rajah in November 1805. But Eman once more renewed the revolt in December with rest of rebels and proved to be a headache as usual. But his arrest ended all his dreams to renew the war with nephew of Pazhassi Rajah as head.
Eman was tried at Seringapatam and sentenced to death. But it was soon converted into life imprisonment. But British feared him so much that they were not ready to jail him anywhere in India - instead he was exiled to Prince of Wales Island near Australia where he breathed his last.
Eman was helped in warfare by his brother Pallur Rayarappan Nair - faithful and courageous, he fought bravely for Pazhassi rajah and in 1806 he and his men were trapped by British pursuers. He chose to fight to death rather than surrender and killed and wounded many British soldiers before he died.
Pazhassi Samarangal, KKN Kurup, 1980
Malabar Manual, William Logan, 1887