The last Venad ruler Rama Raja Verma 1721-1729met Ambika of Rajput origin from the North in Sucheendhrum temple,married and made her his queen,promising her family that her sons will be the future kings of Venadu.The identity of this lady is still only speculated,though she had come with a retinue,who settled along with her and married into kshathriya families already living in Kerala.Such a royal alliance cannot have happened in a casual meeting in a temple.It must have been a political alliance details of which the successor chose to wipe out from history.Venad kings and their cousins rulers of the many principalities of Southern Kerala,were themselves not kshathriya.They bought kshathriya hood every six years,through large donations to Brahmins weighed on thulabaram.It was the British who put an end to this drain from the treasury.
Ramaraja Verma faced continuous opposition from Ettuvittu Pillamar and depended on Madurai army for his protection.The ruler in Madurai was Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak,Rani Mangamma's grandson and the last ruler Meenakshi's husband,who had shifted his capital to Trichy.Ambika is supposed to have been from Tanjore!After Ramaraja verma's death,according to the traditional marumakkadayam,Marthanda Verma ascended the throne!Ambika's sons the thambimar sought help from Madurai Nayak in Trichy,who was too weak to protect him.After 300 yrs,Madurai became too weak to interfere with Venadu.Marthanda Verma used this opportunity for his military campaign,killed rivals to the throne,expanded his kingdom to found Travancore!Did Ambika 's followers flee to Rajapalayam? .Were they Telugu kshathriyas,who obtained the territory from Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak?
Marthanda Verma 1729-1758 is said to have retained the kshathriyas in his personal army,preferring them to the Nair forces.But for the first part of his reign,he was himself on the run hiding in jungles.Was this when Rajapalayam became an asylum?Ambika's followers are said to have married into already existing kshathriya families.The only kshathriya principality in Kerala was Meenachil, (of Sisodiya descent,from Madurai)which was also wiped out by Marthanda Verma.Did the fleeing Meenachil residents flee into Rajapalayam,through the passes in Peermedu and Kambam?I would say so, from a linguistic view point as the Intonation of Telugu spoken by Rajus has resemblance to Malayalam.
Rama Verma Dharma Raja1758-1798 consolidated his kingdom bought lands from Shencotta to Ambasamudhram.He is said to have been a dharmic ruler kind to the survivors of Meenachil.This is when the Palayams lost to the company.DharmaRaja forged agreements with East India Company,which his successor Balarama Verma1782-1810 further strengthened into a treaty.East India Company was not into this for fun and adventure.They wanted lands to yield revenue,and Rajus stepped into this vacuum patronised by the vermas and the company and ventured into agriculture,cultivating temple lands,land leased from the erstwhile Palayams and land grants on the ghats from the British and so on.Srivilliputtur Andal koil and perhaps many others were under the control of Travancore kings till 1850 s that is till the end of company rule.
This I believe is the when and how of Rajapalayam,that materialised from the fall of the Palayams.It has to be 200 yrs old,no more.
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Yet another probability!
Names of places have a story to tell,as we have seen already.Our inti peru is none other than the name of a village we have left behind.It does not mean that we covered the distance from there to here at one go,in one life time.The migration must have taken a century or more,a few generations,with several sites chosen and abandoned,each movement determined by events conflicts and opportunities.With each movement,a trail is left behind,available for the historian to reconstruct the story.
(I am no historian trained to search and not be misled by false trails,sift select and document with proof from inscriptions,tales,folklore and literature.This is no more than a curious mind turning the soil in the net.Inputs and rebuttals are most welcome)
Back to the trails!There were several Rajapalayams,atleast 6 are still traceable.1.west of Cuddalore and north of Panruti.2.East of Thirupathur near Jolarpet west of Javvadhu hills 3.near Pattukkottai south of Mannargudi(telugu tamil fusion?temple of a king?Rajamannar or Rajagopalaswmi?)4.Between Salem and Thiruchengode5.south of Pondicherry 6.near Thuraiyur.Pages in history refer to some conflict sometime or the other in the neighbourhood. from the last days of Vijayanagar to the conficts between european colonies.
The Rajus who lived here,did they merge with the local population?Did they migrate from here,recruited to armies elsewhere?
In the southern extreme are villages bearing the names RajakkalMangalam,Kanjampatti,Kalingarajapuram,
all near kulachel,where Marthanda verma defeated the Dutch De lennoy.who later joined M.verma's army renovated Udhayagiri fort and lies buried there.The names are a throwback to coastal Andhra.On young Marthanda verma's advice,his uncle and predecessor,Ramaverma had a mercenary army recruited from Madurai and probably from Andhra,to face internal challenges from Ettuvittu Pillamars.This conflict intensified during Marthanda Verma's time,when Venadu transformed into Travancore,through several military campaigns.Did the Rajus serve in his army?Did their service boomerang on them?In the uncertain political scenario forces were grouping and regrouping,forming alliances with the merchant colonies,to sort out conflicts with neighbours!The French,the Dutch,The Portugese and the English were all players in Bobbili,Machilipatnam,Pondicherry,kulachel and Kollam fighting for control along the east and west coast for
their trade routes,fighting with'native'recruits.I am inclined to think Rajapalayam has its genesis here and not in Vijayanagar or in the Nayak rule,as it simply did not exist then,not even in the days of the Polyger wars.
All of this is the background in which we should look at two events that occurred in Travancore that just might hold the key to the origin of Rajapalayam.
.
(I am no historian trained to search and not be misled by false trails,sift select and document with proof from inscriptions,tales,folklore and literature.This is no more than a curious mind turning the soil in the net.Inputs and rebuttals are most welcome)
Back to the trails!There were several Rajapalayams,atleast 6 are still traceable.1.west of Cuddalore and north of Panruti.2.East of Thirupathur near Jolarpet west of Javvadhu hills 3.near Pattukkottai south of Mannargudi(telugu tamil fusion?temple of a king?Rajamannar or Rajagopalaswmi?)4.Between Salem and Thiruchengode5.south of Pondicherry 6.near Thuraiyur.Pages in history refer to some conflict sometime or the other in the neighbourhood. from the last days of Vijayanagar to the conficts between european colonies.
The Rajus who lived here,did they merge with the local population?Did they migrate from here,recruited to armies elsewhere?
In the southern extreme are villages bearing the names RajakkalMangalam,Kanjampatti,Kalingarajapuram,
all near kulachel,where Marthanda verma defeated the Dutch De lennoy.who later joined M.verma's army renovated Udhayagiri fort and lies buried there.The names are a throwback to coastal Andhra.On young Marthanda verma's advice,his uncle and predecessor,Ramaverma had a mercenary army recruited from Madurai and probably from Andhra,to face internal challenges from Ettuvittu Pillamars.This conflict intensified during Marthanda Verma's time,when Venadu transformed into Travancore,through several military campaigns.Did the Rajus serve in his army?Did their service boomerang on them?In the uncertain political scenario forces were grouping and regrouping,forming alliances with the merchant colonies,to sort out conflicts with neighbours!The French,the Dutch,The Portugese and the English were all players in Bobbili,Machilipatnam,Pondicherry,kulachel and Kollam fighting for control along the east and west coast for
their trade routes,fighting with'native'recruits.I am inclined to think Rajapalayam has its genesis here and not in Vijayanagar or in the Nayak rule,as it simply did not exist then,not even in the days of the Polyger wars.
All of this is the background in which we should look at two events that occurred in Travancore that just might hold the key to the origin of Rajapalayam.
.
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