Author: K. Jeevabharathi
Translator: Derpitron
The history of invasion started in India with the time of Greek king Alexander. Several centuries later, Mohammedan rulers invaded India on several occasions. Muhammad of Ghazni was prominent among them. Later, Mughals invaded the country and caught hold of almost the entire Indian territory including parts of Tamilnadu. After that, the colonial powers like Portuguese, Danish, French, Dutch and British who originally came to India for trade and later tried to colonise the country. The Portuguese settled in Goa, Danish took hold of Tarangampadi, a town in South Arcot district in Tamilnadu. The French had establishments in Pondicherry and Karaikal. The Britishers bought Chennai (Madras) for lease from Chandragiri king. There was stiff competition between the Britishers and the French for claiming the Indian territory.
The tussle between two Mughal chieftains Chanda Sahib and Anwaruddin served as an opportunity for the French and the British. Chanda Sahib was supported by the French and Anwaruddin had British backing. Both sides went on a fierce battle and Anwaruddin was killed in it. But the battle didn’t end. His son Muhammad Ali took over and fought the battle. The war lasted for a couple of years and finally Mohammed Ali was victorious. He succeeded as the next Nawab but he was trapped in the British ploy. The Britishers had imposed him with several charges for the help they offered in the war in the way of soldiers and weapons. Muhammad Ali didn’t have that much money so paid only a part of it, but the people of his kingdom owed him tax money. So he asked the Britishers to collect the money directly from the people. The Britishers then imposed additional charges for collecting taxes from the people. And the cost he had to pay back kept escalating. Finally it was decided that the Britishers would have taken over the Palayams under the Nawab rule as a pledge for the amount of money Nawab had to pay back.
With this agreement, Britishers became the pseudo rulers of the land. For the first time in history, the British flag was hoisted at Trichy fort. Robert Clive took charge as the de facto ruler of that province. As an aftermath, a British general named Innes was sent southwards to collect taxes from all the Palayakkarars. Innes had heard about the valour of Pulithevar, the ruler of Nerkattansevval. So he visited the remaining Palayams and returned. Later, another general, Alexander Heron, visited all the Palayams with an army. His first exploit was near Dindugul at a Palayam called Lakshmana Nayakkar Palayam ruled by Lakshmana Nayakkar. Heron besieged the fort with his army. So the king Lakshmana Nayakkar surrendered and paid up the due amount of taxes claimed by the British. The same story repeated at Madurai too. From Madurai, Heron proceeded next to Panchalankurichi. At that time, Veerapandiya Kattabomman’s grandfather Pal Pandiyan was its ruler. He welcomed Heron with due respect and offered a part of the money claimed by the British and assured that he’ll pay the remaining sum later. But Heron denied it and arrested his second son Chinna Bommu and a few other relatives and sent them to Trichy. He asked Pal Pandiyan to pay the remaining sum and recover his relatives. A similar thing happened at the neighbouring Palayam Ettayapuram too. After that, Heron went to Nerkattansevval. He thought Pulithevar will also surrender easily like other Palayakkarars but since he has heard about the courage of Pulithevar, he didn’t want to take chances. He divided his army into two divisions and he diverted one half towards the rear end of Nerkattansevval fort under the leadership of Mafuz Khan. Heron led the other half to the front of the fort. Pulithevar stayed alert and launched an attack on Mafuz Khan’s army. He didn’t allow a single soldier to come near the fort. This made Mafuz Khan and his faction flee from the place. Then Heron attacked from the front and he was retaliated vehemently by the army of Pulithevar. This made Heron and his troops back off. On the whole, confronting Pulithevar became a failed mission. Later, the Britishers gathered a huge army from the kingdoms of Trichy, Pudukkottai, Nalukkottai, Ramanathapuram and Travancore along with the British army, under the leadership of a commander Marudanayagam, defeated Pulithevar after an intense battle which lasted for about four months.
Meanwhile Panchalankurichi was raided by Britishers several times. Once by Frischmann, once by Flint, once by Campbell and finally by Fullerton. During these attacks, Jagaveera Pandiyan, father of Veerapandiya Kattabomman was the ruler of Panchalankurichi. Since he didn’t have sufficient forces to fight the British, he either escaped from the fort or resorted to paying the taxes on each of these occasions. When Fullerton attacked the fort, he seized around 40000 varagans from Panchalankurichi.
Later, Britishers attacked Ramanathapuram and arrested its queen and 12 year old prince Muthuramalinga sethupathi. The queen died in captivity and the prince was let out after eight years. However he was once again imprisoned 15 years later since he was said to be involved in plotting against the British authority. Then onwards he remained in jail till his death. In a lifespan of 49 years, prince Muthuramalinga Sethupathi spent 22 years in prison itself.
The ruler of Sivagangai province Muthuvaduganathar had been avoiding paying taxes to the British. So the Britishers planned to attack him while he’s offering prayers at Kalayar Kovil. Though he was caught by surprise, the king fought vigorously and eventually died in the onslaught. Thus Sivagangai fell into the hands of the British. Later, the wife of Muthuvaduganathar, Velu nachiyar gathered support from Haider Ali and with the guidance of her minister Thandavarayapillai and with the help of courageous commanders Maruthu brothers sucessfully reclaimed Sivagangai from the British.
During this entire period, Panchalankurichi was attacked five times by the British. Once Veerapandiya Kattabomman’s grandfather Pal Pandiyan ruled Panchalankurichi. And the remaining four times, Jagaveera Pandiyan, father of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, was the ruler. Neither of them had opposed the British. So we can’t consider them as role models for Veerapandiya Kattabomman. So it’s indeed clear that Pulithevar, Muthuramalinga sethupathi, Muthuvaduganathar and Velu nachiyar were ideal role models for Veerapandiya Kattabomman.