Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi (1765–1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1802 and 1809 during the reign of His Highness Maharajah Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being one of the earliest individuals to rebel against British East India Company's supremacy in India.
Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi was born in the village of Kalkulam to Sri Kunjumayitti Pillai and his wife Valliyamma Pillai Thankachi on the 6th of May 1765, at Thalakulam, near the town of Nagercoil (around 16 km from Nagercoil) in present day Indian state of Tamil Nadu which then comprised a southern district of the Travancore country. He came from a family that had been honoured with the high title of Chempakaraman for their services to the state by Maharajah Marthanda Varma. Velayudhan Thampi, better known as Velu Thampi, was appointed a Kariakkar or Tahsildar at Mavelikkara during the initial years of the reign of Maharajah Bala Rama Varma. His full name was "Idaprabu Kulottunga Katirkulatu Mulappada Arasarana Irayanda Talakulatu Valiya Veetil Tampi Chempakaraman Velayudhan.."[1].
Bala Rama Varma was one of Travancore's least popular sovereigns whose reign was marked by unrest and various internal and external problems to the state [2]. He became King at the young age of sixteen and came under the influence of a corrupt nobleman known as Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri from Calicut, in the Zamorins kingdom. One of the first acts of atrocities during his reign was the murder of Raja Kesavadas[3], the existing Dewan of Travancore.Sankaran Nampoothiri was then appointed as Dewan (Prime minister) with two other ministers. Due to corruption, soon the treasury was empty. So they decided to collect money by ordering the Tahsildars (District Officers) of the districts to pay large amounts of money which they determined without any reference to the revenue of the districts. They were called to the palace and told to pay the amount. Velu Thampi who was the Tahasildar of a southern district was called and ordered to pay Rs.3000 to which he responded asking for three days time. Velu Thampi returned to the district gathered the people together and there was an uprising. People from all parts of the State joined together and surrounded the palace demanding an immediate dismissal of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri and banish him from the country. They also demanded that his two ministers to be brought to a public place, flogged and cut off their ears. The punishments were immediately carried out and the two ministers were put in jail at Trivandrum. Later Velu Thampi was appointed the Dalawa of Travancore.[4]
After Velu Thampi became Dalawa of Travancore he faced serious opposition from two relatives of the late Raja Kesavadas who applied for help to get rid of Velu Thampi from their associates at Bombay. These letters were intercepted and presented to the Maharajah in a negative light, who ordered the immediate execution of the two men, Chempakaraman Kumaran Pillai and Erayiman Pillai. Having cleared his way, Velu Thampi became the Dalawa facing no more opposition. The Madras Government sanctioned his appointment within a few months.
Velu Thampi was not an able statesman like Ramayyan Dalawa or Raja Kesavadas his immediate two predecessors. He was of rebellious nature. Within three years of the death of Raja Kesavadas the country was plagued with corruption and various problems caused by the banished Namboodiri Dalawa. Velu Thampi resorted to harsh punishments with a view to improve situations in his country. Flogging, cutting of the ears and nose, nailing people to trees etc. were some of the punishments adopted during his reign as Dalawa. The harshness however had its effect and peace and order was restored within the state within a year of Velu Thampi's accession to Dalawaship [2].
The undue severity and overbearing conduct of the Dalawa resulted in resentment amongst his own colleagues, the very same people who had assisted his rise to power. A conspiracy was formed against him under the influence of Kunjunilam Pillai, a powerful cabinet official of Travancore who succeeded in getting the Maharajah to sign a royal warrant to arrest and immediately execute Velu Thampi Dalawa. The Dalawa was at Allepey when he got intelligence of the conspiracy and immediately hurried to Cochin to meet the British Resident Major Macaulay who was a good friend of his now. The Resident had already received evidence that Kunjunilam Pillai had a major hand in the murder of Raja Kesavadas and hence he, arming Velu Thampi with a small force of British soldiers, deputed him to Trivandrum where the conspiracy of Kunjunilam Pillai was investigated. Pillai was found guilty of murder and conspiracy and accordingly punished. With this obstacle removed, Velu Thampi regained his former influence once again [2].
The armies of Travancore consisted of the Nairs when in 1804 Velu Thampi proposed a reduction in their allowances, the same was met with immediate discontent. The troops believed that this proposal was at the suggestion of the British and immediately resolved in the assassination of both, the Resident Major Macaulay as well as the Dalawa Velu Thampi. Velu Thampi fled to Cochin again to his friend, the Resident as the Nairs marched to Trivandrum in a strong army of ten thousand sepoys and demanded of the Maharajah the immediate dismissal of the Dalawa and ending of any alliance with the British. Meanwhile the Resident and the Dalawa collected forces at Cochin and assisted by the Carnatic Brigade marched to Trivandrum and put an end to the mutiny. Several of its leaders were executed in the most gruesome manner. One Krishna Pillai, a commander of a regiment, had his legs tied to two elephants which were driven in the opposite direction, tearing him to pieces.
The Treaty signed with the British East India Company by the popular Maharajah Dharma Raja Rama Varma in 1795 was revised in what is known as the Treaty of 1805 (according to the English East India Company's policy of "Subordinate Isolation") after the insurrection of the Nair troops in Travancore. It increased the British Indian force stationed in Travancore and the amount of money to be paid as tribute to the British, though the expenditure of the State in maintaining its own standing army was drastically cut. This was the main change brought about in the Treaty of 1805.[2]
Travancore was at that time, owing to all its internal problems, facing a heavy financial crisis and the ratification of the Treaty by Velu Thampi created serious discontent as it increased the dependence of Travancore on the British and also made indebted it to the English Company. In spite of being fully aware of the financial crisis in Travancore, the Resident Major Macaulay pressed Velu Thampi for immediate payment of the large amount of tribute and the expenses of putting down the mutiny of the Nair troops. The Maharajah meanwhile wrote to the Madras government for the recall of the Resident and appointment of a new resident which was denied. But this news made the Resident more obstinate against Travancore and he pressurised the Dalawa for payments immediately.
The Dalawa was now disillusioned with the British whom he had considered a friend and who considered any "aggression on Travancore as an aggression on themselves" as per the previous treaties. His discontent was first given vent to by the assassination of the ambassador of the Resident in the court. The Maharajah had communicated his discontent with the Dalawa to this ambassador, a certain Subba Iyen, and this information was known to the Maharajahs wife, Arumana Amma, a noblewomen of the Arumana Ammaveedu family. She was a lady of influence, who apparently communicated Royal secrets to the Dalawa,[2] and she informed the Dalawa of the Maharajah's intention to dismiss him, with support from the Resident. This increased the anger of the Dalawa against the British. First the Resident demanded for impossible amounts of money and now he had started interfering with the internal affairs of the state.
Just as in Travancore affairs in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin was also of great confusion and distaste against the Resident. The Rajah of Cochin had retired to a small village near Alwaye while the kingdom was actually run by his powerful minister and relative, the Paliath Achan Govindan Menon. Paliath Achan wanted the assassination of a powerful and trusted aide of the Rajah, a certain Nadavarambathu Kunju Krishna Menon (whose daughter later married Ayilyam Thirunal Maharajah of Travancore), who was protected by the Resident. This increased the hostility between the Paliath Achan and the Resident who started interfering in the internal affairs of Cochin as well, incurring serious displeasure from the Paliath Achan.
Velu Thampi Dalawa and the Paliath Achan, Govindan Menon, met and decided on the extirpation of the British Resident and end of British supremacy in their respective states. Velu Thampi organised recruits, strengthened forts and stored up ammunition while similar preparations was made by the Paliath Achan in Cochin. Velu Thampi applied to the Zamorin of Calicut and to the French for assistance, but both did not acknowledge the request. The plan of the Paliath Achan and Velu Thampi was to unitedly attack the Fort of Cochin and murder the British Resident Major Macaulay and Kunju Krishna Menon. Another force was appointed to attack the British garrison at Quilon. This was in the year 1807.
The Resident realised the object of the simultaneous preparations on Travancore and Cochin and immediately wrote to the Madras government for reinforcements. The British 12th Regiment and two native battalions were ordered to aid the Resident. Velu Thampi pretended great alarm at these preparations and begged permission to resign his office and retire to Malabar in the British territories. The same was agreed upon and on 28 December 1808 Velu Thampi was to be escorted to Malabar. The intention of Velu Thampi however was to divert the Resident's forces away from Cochin in which he succeeded. That night a body of armed men led by the Paliath Achan, surrounded the Residency at Bolghatty Palace and surprised the Resident, who was under the impression that the menace of Velu Thampi was finally over. The Resident and Kunju Krishna Menon however succeeded in escaping and reached Quilon. Velu Thampi ordered his Nairs to attack them at Quilon.
The Nayar troops attacked the Subsidiary force of the British at Quilon. In spite of greater numbers, the troops were not organized and lacked communications with a leader and hence for the night on 30 December 1808 the British Indian troops under Colonel Chalmers held their ground. The Dalawa collected a force of three thousand men and again attacked the British Indian troops on 15 January 1809. The British organized their Indians armies strategically and had better artillery support enabling them to repulse the attack by the Nair warriors. The British Indian regiments in Cochin were attacked by the Paliath Achan but here too he was repulsed. In all these battles, the British were helped by treachery within the Dalawa's camp which forewarned them of the Dalawa's battle plans.
Velu Thampi then went to Kundara where he made his famous proclamation in January 1809 urging the people to fight the British. The proclamation had its effect and the whole country rose like one man against the British. This was now a desperate game being played by Velu Thampi. He exploited the religious orthodoxy of the people by making them believe the British were Christian missionaries. The proclamation even influenced the Maharajah at Trivandrum. Wholesale butchery of foreigners took place in Travancore, thereby disgracing the cause of the rebellion. The British realized that the Dalawa was now desperate.
Colonel Leger came with Indian troop reinforcements from Madras on 6 February 1809 and camped on the Aramboly pass. The Maharajah who never openly supported the rebellion, now turned against it under the influence of Ummini Thampi, who was a government official and later went on to become the Dalawa of Travancore. Together with the Maharaja's troops Col. Leger entered Travancore the next morning and attacked the lines of the Nair troops near the Palamcottah fort. The Nair troops were defeated and the Dalawa himself fled to Trivandrum. Having secured entry into Travancore the Maharajas's and British troops now moved into the interior and within a few days the two important forts of Padmanabhapuram and Udayagiri also fell into their hands. Meanwhile at Quilon where the Nair troops were planning yet another final attack heard of the fall of these forts and lost heart and dispersed to their homes. The allied army camped on the outskirts of Trivandrum in Pappanamcode.
Velu Thampi himself fled from Trivandrum to Kilimanoor where he called on the Royal family there. After staying there for the night, he proceeded northwards but was overtaken in the Bhagawati Temple at Mannadi where he was surrounded by the Maharaja's troops. However the Dalawa did not wish to be taken alive. In the temple he asked his younger brother to cut his throat, which request on being refused, he did it himself. Velu Thampi died in the Mannadi Temple. His body was brought back to Trivandrum and gibbeted on the Kannammoola hill.
His brother surrendered and was taken to Quilon and executed there. Velu Thampi's body was taken to Trivandrum and exposed on a gibbet. The man who informed the Army of the Dalawa's whereabouts received an award of Rs. 50,000 from the British. Velu Thampi's ancestral home was razed to the ground and his relatives after being flogged and banished, were taken to the Maldives when, while at Tuticorin, many of them committed suicide.
Velu Thampi failed militarily against the British Indian Army even though he commanded a well trained army armed with muskets and artillery organized on European military system with 3000 men and 18 guns. Large sections of the warrior Nair caste [which had nearly 80,000 males of conscription age in Travancore] and the common people supported the Dalawa. At the height of power, Velu Thampi, though a good administrator, was stern and tough, and thus alienated some nobles and officials of the crown. The East India Company entered in a treaty with the Maharaja of Travancore, offering their troops to ward off internal and external threats. Though this meant that the Nair army who had fought for the crown during the Third Mysore war would be disbanded, the Maharaja signed it because the treaty helped him maintain his throne, taking away a threat to his rule from future local rebellions because he could call up the English East India Compan's army to put down civil uprisings. And the Maharajah could save the money needed to maintain a standing army and this was an added incentive to his decision to sign the treaty. This treaty of Subordinate Isolation was used by the East India Company in other princely kingdoms in India.
The Travancore army primarily consisting of Nairs who fought so well in defense of Nedumkotta against Tipu Sultan's army in 1790, was the first native force to defeat a colonial power in Asia - the Dutch East India Company in Travancore-Dutch war. The army consisted of athletic troops who had to pass a very tough selection procedure to join, and were trained in the European model of warfare by "Valiakappittan" Eustachius De Lannoy. However, Velu Thampi himself had disbanded most of the States's Army following the mutiny against him in AD 1805. Velu Thampi may not have realized a number of his supposed friends were planning to betray him and that the Maharaja, who was notorious for his weakness of character, would not hesitate to sacrifice his former Dalawa to normalise relations with the East India Company.
The Pazhasshi Raja commanding no more than 1000 men mostly armed with swords, spears and bows-arrows and a territory that was limited to present day Wynad district and Talasseri taluk of Kannur district was able to hold out against the Company's and his own uncle's troops for nearly a decade[1793-97 / 1800-1805] till he was betrayed by one of his followers.
In memory of the courage of Velu Thampi Dalawa, the Kerala State Government instituted a memorial, a research center, a museum, a park and a statue at Mannadi. Another statue of Velu Thampi Dalawa can be found in front of the "old secretariat" of Kerala in Trivandrum.
Following the end of Velu Thampi Dalawa, the Paliath Achan without any support left surrendered to the British. He lost all support from the Rajah of Cochin, who wished to get rid of the Paliath Achan who was the actual ruler of Cochin and recover his position under subordination of the British. Govindan Menon, the then Paliath Achan was first deported to Madras, where he was kept prisoner at Fort St. George for twelve years. He was then taken to Bombay and remained a prisoner there for thirteen years, finally dying at Benares.
The sword that was used by Velu Thampi Dalawa to fight against British imperialism, was kept with the Kilimanoor royal family, for about 150 years. It was presented in 1957, to India's then president Rajendra Prasad by a member of the royal family.
On June 20, 2010 it was brought back to Kerala and was placed at his ancestral house at Tripthi Shastamangalam, Trivandrum.[5]