Author: K. Jeevabharathi
Translator: Derpitron
Alan had reported his defeat to his higher officials. This made the Britishers even more vengeful against Kattabomman. In the meantime Kattabomman also guessed that Britishers would be infuriated by this defeat and would come back with bigger plans and would cause trouble. So he was thinking of ways to tackle the British. He thought of colluding with other Palayams in order to go up against the British. In lieu of that, he met the Palayakkarars of Nagalapuram, Ezhayirampannai, Kolarpatti, Kadalkudi and Kulathur and discussed about the need to oppose the British and that some Palayakkarars were scaredly supporting the British. So this paved the way to form a grand alliance against the British.
Meanwhile the Britishers wanted to subdue Kattabomman somehow. So they met Ettapa Nayakkan and discussed this with him. Ettappan said that he was constantly facing a threat from Kattabomman since he has been in support of the British. So he asked the Britishers to put an end to this nuisance. Then, Britishers thought of doing something that would make Kattabomman meet and discuss with them and at the same time it should have something beneficial to Ettappan too. As a first step, they tried to negotiate with Veerapandiya Kattabomman through letters. And Kattabomman as usual didn’t respond to them and was concentrating on forming an alliance with other Palayakkarars. So they annexed two villages Arungulam and Subbalapuram from Panchalankurichi into Ettayapuram under the pretext of restructuring the boundaries of Palayams. By doing this, the British also felt Ettappan would be benefited. However Kattabomman didn’t respond to these tantrums. He was busy concentrating on his efforts of forming an opposition against the British.
The Britishers then went a step ahead and tried to intimidate Kattabomman. Theee were some villages like Srivaigundam, Azhvar Thirunagari, Athur, Arumugamangalam which were fertile regions within Panchalankurichi. The Britishers declared that these places have come under direct British administration and that the people living here should pay taxes directly to the British. However Veerapandiya Kattabomman, who didn’t care about the British ruling, directly sent his party of officials to collect taxes from these villages and told them that they needn’t pay any tax to the British . Moreover he ordered that no one from his kingdom should supply goats for meat and clothes for the British troops stationed at Tuticorin. This made the Britishers even more angry with Veerapandiya Kattabomman.
Next Jackson was appointed as the collector of Tirunelveli. When he took charge, other Palayakkarars went and visited him as usual. However Kattabomman didn’t go like that. This made Jackson angry with Kattabomman. He then sent a letter to Panchalankurichi asking about the remaining sum of tax money to which Kattabomman didn’t respond. Thus he reported to the governor that there’s no other option other than using weapons against Panchalankurichi. However the governor decided to give another chance and asked Jackson to call Kattabomman for a negotiation talk once again.
This time since the governor has interfered in this matter, Kattabomman’s minister Danapathi pillai said that it’s not wrong to go and visit Jackson. This was also agreed by others. So they decided to go and meet Jackson at Tirunelveli as planned. Veerapandiya Kattabomman went to Tirunelveli with his large army of horses, elephants and soldiers. Apart from them, there were flag bearers and musical bands at the front. He was on a journey to Tirunelveli like a great emperor. When he reached the collector office, he was informed that the collector had gone to Kutralam and he asked Kattabomman to meet him there. Kattabomman along with his men went to Kutralam to get to know that the collector had already left for Chokkampatti and that he had to go there to meet the collector. Next, they went to Chokkampatti where they were informed that the collector asked to come to Sivagiri. This left Kattabomman perplexed. Why is Jackson trying to dodge him like this? Is there anything to it. He immediately discussed this with his minister and commanders. They finally decided that they would meet Jackson at all costs. So they started their journey to Sivagiri.
At Sivagiri too, the same old story continued, Jackson had already left the place and went to Sethur. Then onwards he went to Srivilliputtur, Peraiyur, Pavali, Pallimadai, Kamuthi and finally to Ramanathapuram. Veerapandiya Kattabomman and his entire entourage also followed him to all these places and finally reached Ramanathapuram. Jackson didn’t expect this. According to his original plan, he thought if he dodged like this, Kattabomman would get enraged and go back to Panchalankurichi. And Jackson was waiting to use that as an excuse to invade Panchalankurichi. But Kattabomman didn’t let that happen. Finally the meeting was supposed to be held.
Such meetings at Ramanathapuram were usually held in mornings at Ramalinga vilas but this time it’s held in a tent house next to Ramalinga vilas and in the afternoon. Kattabomman was curious about why it was so. However he proceeded to meet Jackson along with his crew. But the British soldiers didn’t allow Kattabomman’s crew and asked him to come alone. But they didn’t agree to send in Kattabomman alone. So there was almost a scuffle between the two sides. So Kattabomman asked his people to stay calm and said that he would go in along with Danapathi pillai.
When Jackson met Veerapandiya Kattabomman he didn’t know what to ask and where to start. He was so angry and his eyes full of fury were fixed on Kattabomman. He didn’t even have the courtesy to offer a seat to Kattabomman. Since Kattabomman was tired due to the long travel, he looked a bit pale. Jackson mistook this and thought that Kattabomman was afraid of him. Jackson had a translator Dvashi who would translate his English sentences to Kattabomman in Tamil. Similarly Kattabomman’s reply in Tamil would be translated into English by Danapathi pillai. With this arrangement, they started conversing. Jackson asked questions in a taunting tone. Before replying Kattabomman searched for something in that room. He was looking for a chair and found one near Jackson. He dragged it and sat on it like a king and bravely started replying to Jackson. When Jackson asked about paying taxes, Kattabomman once again clearly said that the Britishers don’t have the right to demand tax from him. Jackson pressed the following charges on Kattabomman. He said that Kattabomman had not paid the taxes, disregarded British officer Maxwell, attacked commander Alan, intimidated their ally Ettappan, not responded to the letters sent by the British, collected taxes in villages that were declared to have been under direct British control. Kattabomman refuted all these charges saying that it was the British who were at fault by claiming taxes, attacking Panchalankurichi was their next mistake, considering Kattabomman like the same as Ettappan was yet another mistake and it’s a blunder that Jackson didn’t even have the manners to offer him a seat. In this way, the talks only intensified and were moving towards a stalemate. Since Jackson repeatedly kept mentioning about the tax money, Kattabomman felt that the meeting was really useless. So she stood up and got ready to leave.
But Jackson said that the meeting wasn’t yet over and therefore Veerapandiya Kattabomman had to stay at Ramanathapuram for longer. When Kattabomman tried to be steadfast in his decision, he stated that it was an order that Kattabomman had to stay there. This infuriated Kattabomman too much and he suspected foul play in this. So he said that he can’t stay back since his entourage were tired due to the long journey. Having said this, he started to leave the place. But Jackson ordered his assistant Clarke to arrest Kattabomman. When Clarke approached Kattabomman in order to arrest him, Kattabomman pulled out his dagger and stabbed him. This left Jackson shocked and Kattabomman used that moment and left the place. At the entrance, the guards stopped Kattabomman from leaving. But Kattabomman’s men were quick enough to act against the guards and soon there was a scuffle in that scene. Kattabomman immediately ordered his men to refrain from attacking and instructed them to leave from there at once. The crew had successfully managed to return to Panchalankurichi. But the sad thing is that Danapathi pillai was still stuck in the building. But since it’s not advisable to get back in to retrieve Danapathi pillai, Kattabomman proceeded with his journey to Panchalankurichi.
After reaching Panchalankurichi, Veerapandiya Kattabomman wrote a letter to the governor detailing all the events starting from how Jackson had dodged him, tried to cunningly arrest him and that he had also taken Danapathi pillai into his captivity. But his letter had no response. So next, Veerapandiya Kattabomman tried to contact a British general called Davison who was acquainted with Kattabomman. Davison after listening to Kattabomman’s narrative, he sent a letter from his side detailing Kattabomman’s stance in this issue.
Meanwhile Jackson, who was very keen on bringing down Kattabomman, tried to justify his actions under the pretext that Kattabomman was involved in robbery. Jackson had threatened the Palayakkarars of Sivagiri and and made them write fake letters accusing Kattabomman of murder and robbery.
This case was taken up at the British High command and an investigation was undertaken. Since Kattabomman had the favor of Davison and his side of evidence was strong, the Britishers declared Jackson guilty and stripped him from his position. Kattabomman was acquitted from his false charges and Danapathi pillai was released. The Britishers also invited Kattabomman to Trichy headquarters and sought a formal apology for what had happened. So Jackson’s efforts of falsely accusing Kattabomman went down in vain.