Person · rebel raja
Pazhassi Raja
Also known as Kerala Simham, Pazhassi Raja
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (3 January 1753 - 30 November 1805), called 'Kerala Simham' (Lion of Kerala), the Kottayam Pazhassi raja of Malabar who led a 11-year guerilla war (1793-1805) against the British East India Company from the Wayanad forests. After the 1792 Mysore surrender transferred Malabar to the Company, Pazhassi Raja refused Company's revenue system and raised Kurichiyar, Mullukuruma and Paniya tribal fighters for a sustained hill-forest campaign. He was shot by Company troops at Mavilan Thodu in Wayanad on 30 November 1805. The 2009 Mammootty-starring 'Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja' Malayalam film and the Pazhassi Raja Museum at Kozhikode preserve his memory.
- Date
- 1753–1805
- Function
- Social reform & movement
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Connections (1)
- AnalogueKunjali Marakkar IV
Pazhassi Raja's 1793-1805 Wayanad hill guerilla campaign against the British East India Company and Kunjali Marakkar IV's 1570-1600 Malabar naval campaign against the Portuguese both operated out of the Zamorin of Calicut's traditional political-military framework. The Marakkar Kottakal fort and the Kottayam Pazhassi Palace are both central to Kerala's two centuries of anti-European coastal resistance.
Sources
Standard biography; regional historiography.
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