VELU THAMPI AND PAZHASSI INSURGENCIES -- MYTH AND REALITY.

Curieux, à l'analyse d'événements dans l'histoire du Kerala   (Inquisitive analysis of events in Kerala History)

A reactionary movement advocates the restoration of a previous state of social affairs, while a progressive movement fights for a new social arrangement....When textbooks report fiction as fact, they do not represent a necessarily truthful depiction of history. Fact, fiction, and fantasy are intertwined; exaggerated truths and fictionalized events parade as history lessons. A series of hoaxes have been accepted as facts even in academic circles. In this paper, I have attempted to study in contrast the characteristics of political rebellions for a common cause and an ordinary agitation for selfish goals. Although the word 'rebellion' may be used by the protagonists, in reality it may be an agitation for selfish purposes. I am highlighting two 'rebellions' in Kerala -- Pazhassi Raja rebellion and Velu Thampi revolt -- which are interpreted by some pseudo- progressive writers as 'liberation struggle,' and 'war for independence,’ and by impartial historians as a parochial struggle of a reactionary clique to take back history to feudal times. . Some caste-intoxicated historians have now indulged in a systematic effort to distort the history of the rebellion of Velu Thampi and Pazhassi Raja with a view to jeopardizing the events of the period and to misinform the younger generation. Such blatant distortion is being carried out by religiously minded conservatives for personal popularity, caste bigotry and religious fanaticism. . They have been twisting, concocting, reconfiguring and rewriting historical antecedents only for caste- egos, regional pride and mental aggression. 

I am giving a brief account of these two rebellions without going into all details, focusing. only on the divergent trends of interpretation. Although there were some minor skirmishes when the British brought Kerala under their control early in 1799, the British had to face an insurrection in Malabar, led by Kerala Verma Pazhassi of the Kottayam royal family. Like Velu Thampi, Pazhassi also supported the British initially and did not exhibit any anti-British animosity when they first intervened in Malabar affairs.  When General Abercrombie landed at Tellicherry in 1790, Pazhassi joined him with his guerrilla army of Nairs from the mountains. As Woodcock says, “Undoubtedly he hoped that a British victory would reinstate the old feudal order in Malabar, and as soon as he saw that this was not to be so, and that the princes would become mere landlords drawing pensions from the British, he refused to submit.” [1] The British wanted to bring Wyanad under their control which was ceded to them by Tipu after the fall of Seringapatam. Pazhassi Raja opposed the British move and put forward his right over the district. He was a clever guerrilla fighter and the Bombay troops deployed by the British were incapable of countering his guerrilla tactics. Wellesley immediately took charge of operations and achieved some success by improving the line of communications and holding Pazhassi in the jungles. But, Pazhassi's men struck back and won a strategic victory by capturing the fort at Panamaram and brought the Wyanad passes under their control. The Bombay troops were not faring well and were also being ravaged by malaria. Wellesley replaced them with Madras troops and Pazhassi's men were restricted to the jungles. A new strategy of using kolkars (spies) instead of troops was a great success. Early in 1804 Thomas Harvey Baber, a young and energetic British officer, came as Sub-Collector of Tellicherry and he was entrusted with the responsibility of crushing Pazhassi revolt. Pazhassi's hideout was found and he was shot to death on November 30, 1805. In his letter to the Principal Collector Baber wrote; “The contest was but of short duration. Several of the rebels had fallen, whom the kolkars were dispatching, and a running fight was kept up after the rest till we could see no more of them…… I learnt that the Pyche (Pazhassi) Rajah was amongst those whom we first observed on the banks of the nulla, and it was only on my return from the pursuit that I learnt that the Rajah was amongst the first who had fallen”[2] But the legend of Pazhassi still stirs patriotic spirit and he is hailed as a martyr to the cause of freedom
 

REVOLT IN TRAVANCORE 

The British had to face another formidable challenge from Velu Thampi of Travancore and Paliath .Achan of Kochi. Velu Thampi could easily challenge the weak king , Bala Rama Varma, because he had popular support on account of a successful revolt against the previous Dewan, Jeyanthan Sankaran Nambuthiri, Sankara Narayanan and a broker Mathoo Tharakan and his subordinates in the palace. Velu Thampi himself was a landowner and he fought for the cause of the jenmis when they were asked to pay additional tax to meet government expenditure. So his first appearance on the political stage was to fight for feudal rights. .In those days of caste oppression, untouchability and sight pollution, the crowd that accompanied Velu Thampi to challenge the Raja consisted only of Nairs and other upper castes, not peasants and labourers, as claimed by some perverted historians.. The 16-year old Raja, Balarama Varma , yielded to the threat of Thampi and, after dismissing the Dewan Nambuthiri, appointed Velu Thampi Dewan, on the advice of Colonel Macaulay. After becoming Dalawa, Velu Thampi started on reforms, aimed at strengthening the feudal forces . Biased historians attribute many reforms to Velu Thampi. As for instance,..Kandelutu (surveying and fixing the revenue of the land) and Kettulutu (fixing revenue after hearing) attributed to Velu Thampi may not be correct because Kesava Das had already arranged revenue assessment in a systematic manner. Kesava Das showed himself as a progressive, vigorous, if not always a suave administrator. He not only took steps to substantially increase the revenue but also widened trade enterprises and thereby geometrically increased the revenue stream and profitability.. K.M.Panikkar points out: " Raja Kesava Das pursued a particularly enlightened policy with regard to trade and built just outside the fortress walls a commodious bazaar where foreign merchants were encouraged to come and settle down." (Panikkar, K.M.,'A History of Kerala', Annamali University, 1959, p.302). But survey during Velu Thampi's rule would not be impartial in those days of nepotism and corruption and fixing revenue on the basis of oral hearing (ketteluttu) would never be accurate. These were arrogant measures to fleece money from frightened landowners to be used to increase the finance in the treasury. . Kesava Das had  already arranged a perfect system for tax collection and there was no revenue deficit. Keasava Das is credited with the revenue policy of  Kandelutu ( literally a record of what was seen and fixed i.e., a revenue settlement on the basis of personal survey). . Kettelutu is a settlement made generally by a personal conference with the ryots and on their declarations. (Travancore Land Revenue Manual. Vol. IV, pp. 167, 881-82.) But the process of economic development carried out by Thampi , unlike in the days of Dewan Kesava das, resulted in considerable hardship for farmers because of increased taxes, more severe methods for tax collection and the commercialization of agriculture. Agricultural labourers, plantation workers, tribal cultivators, and tenants could not raise their voice against the exaction of landlords, bureaucrats of the state, merchants, money-lenders, or their rogue agents during Thampi’s rule. He improvised the people, farmers in particular, by raising taxes. Terrified by Thampi's brutal exaction many farmers had given up cultivation  and the wealth and prosperity of Travancore  was waning. This was the primary reason for Thampi's inability to pay the dues to the Company.. , 
Thampi was also known for his exceedingly cruel treatment of people. The most excruciating, brutal and severe punishments such as sawing, hanging, chopping off ears, hands, crushing by elephants, nailing to trees and dismemberment were common during his rule.rule. Travancore Manual has recorded the following punishments. "If the accused was found guilty he would be hanged on the very tree under which the court was held and execution took place before he left for another village. In another instance at Edawa a Namboodiri was robbed of his betel box which contained his gold rings and a silver ornament. A Muslim was suspected for this theft. Velu Thampi “ordered the whole of the Mahomedan population to be brought before him, and when they as a matter of course denied the charge, he mercilessly ordered them one after another being nailed to the tree under which he held court." The Nayar troops revolted when Velu Thampi reduced their allowance. Velu Thampi reacted in a bestial manner. “The leaders were seized and dealt with in Velu Tampi’s usual fashion. Some were hanged, some beheaded; others were blown off the cannon’s mouth. One of them, Krishan Pillai, it is said, had his legs tied to two elephants and the animals were drawn in opposite directions tearing the victim to pieces." Thampi was  bloodthirsty.  paranoid  and he  committed unimaginable atrocities.  Although it is claimed by some historians that he conducted a land survey and increased the income, there was no record to say there was an increase in land revenue, but there is evidence that there was not enough money in the treasury. That was the main reason for the Resident to intervene which led to many complications. Markets established by him in Changanasserry and Vaikom were only for the benefit of upper castes living in the neighborhood, for in those days the mass of the people were barred from entering markets. Nair army was the main prop of the Raja. Thampi’s relationship with the army was not cordial right from the day when he appeared before the palace to challenge the king. His plan to cut in the pay of the army triggered off a mutiny. Velu Thampi sought the help of Macaulay and the Company’s soldiers at Kochi were dispatched to help him. The mutiny was put down with appalling savagery. Velu Thampi’s motive in subduing Nair army is not clear. Probably, taking advantage of the weakness of the young Raja, he would have planned to usurp the throne as Hyder Ali did in Mysore. As Agur says, “ In the neighboring state of Cochin, Dewan Menon (Paliat Achan) in like manner reduced the Raja to a mere cipher and assumed the entire rule in his own hands thereby playing a very dangerous part.”[3] Like Marthanda Varma who suppressed the Ettuveettu Pillamars with the help of Madura Nayaks, Velu Thampi probably would have schemed to wipe out Travancore Nair army with the help of Company soldiers to usurp the throne for himself. Macaulay’s stiff resistance and the terms in the Treaty would have been the probable causes for the violent rupture between Thampi and Macaulay who were till then friends and the Treaty itself was signed at the insistence of Thampi. The ‘Treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance’, signed on 12th January 1805 dismantled the political, military and financial autonomy of Travancore, although outwardly the Raja was independent. The singular advantage of the treaty was the Company was given the full responsibility of defence of Travancore against all internal and external adversaries. . On the other hand, it virtually stripped the Raja of whatever residual autonomy had been conceded to him by the treaty of 1795 and increased the monetary obligation of the Travancore in the form of annual subsidy. It also authorized the Company to decide whether the British Subsidiary force should be stationed within the state or on its borders, which under the earlier treaty had been the prerogative of the princely state. Article V of the treaty authorized the Governor General to assume the administrative charge of Travancore directly if the state ‘defray from paying funds spent for the security of the state’. [4] As Woodcock says, “The price of this assistance was a new Treaty, signed in 1805, by which the Raja specifically accepted British protection, agreed to pay a tribute of 8000,000 rupees a year, and promised to be guided by whatever advice the Company’s representatives might give him in anything to do with the internal administration of the state.” [5] Velu Thampi,using his authority as Dewan, virtually surrendered Travancore to the British. . As Kusuman says ... the treaty of 1805 "raised a hue and cry and turned the then Dewan, Velu Tampi extremely unpopular with the masses as well as the sovereign. (.Kusuman, K.K., A History of Trade and Commerce in Travancore, Mittal, Delhi, 1987,p. 167). Marthanda Varma did not yield to the Dutch. But Velu Thampi  had no hesitation to get the help of foreigners just to remain power. He had no clear-cut plans and was a supreme opportunist, taking advantages as they came. Everything he did in service of his country was a perfidious, cynical contrivance in pursuit of power and money.

THAMPI REVOLTS 

Some writers sing paean to the sword of Velu Thampi. When Velu Thampi’s 248 birth anniversary was celebrated in Thiruvananthapuram, his sword of rebellion took center stage. “Experts said they found several notches and dents on the blade, indicating the weapon has seen combat. “ [6] Although Thampi would have used the sword for killing his personal adversaries in brutal manner and finally to kill himself, his military incompetence can be seen in every battle that he fought against the British. The main cause for his military incompetence can be attributed to his flawed organizational skill. Thampi does not appear to be a skilful military strategist or a man of .daring adventure on battle fields. As a student interested in military history, I waded through Thampi’s wars, and I found him to be miserably inefficient and incompetent. .In most battles, Thampi was avoiding the acute stresses and traumas of combat. Raising anti-Macaulay slogan does not make Thampi a hero. But acting heroically on the battlefield makes him a hero. The effective prosecution of any war requires a load of decisions at all junctures. Many times, Thampi had blundered through misinformation, faulty intelligence, a misreading of the tactical or strategic situation and even lack of personal valour on his part. No British commander had seen Thampi in the thick of battle. The rebellion broke out in Kochi on December 18, 1898, when a 600-men force, commanded by Achan and two of Thampi’s commanders stormed the Resident’s bungalow and miserably failed to kill him. Although it was projected as a well planned and secretly organized conspiracy by Achan and Thampi to attack Macaualay unawares which, if executed, according to their imagination, would be a fatal blow to the British, collapsed in disgrace exposing at the same time the terrible inefficiency that characterized the management of war by Thampi. And again on January19, 1809, the combined forces of Thampi and Achan were routed by Major Hewitt, and Thampi was seen fleeing for his life. The Kollam war, which Thampi planned to win with popular support after the Kundara Proclamation, ended in total failure and exposed his chicanery to get the support of the people with a communal Proclamation.. Kundara Proclamation was a deliberate challenge to lower castes, landless peasants, proletarians, slaves and non-Hindus living in Kerala, especially Christians and Muslims.. How could Thampi get the support of the masses when he says in the Proclamation, “… get low caste people to inflict heavy punishments for slight faults? How could Thampi get the support of the people when there was outright plunder of land revenue coupled with ruinous taxation of the peasantry?  Kundara proclamation exposes Thampi as a hypocrite who used religion to cover his most brutal murders. Although communal historians give lot of weight and importance to Kundara Proclamation terming it as ‘progressive’, ‘charter of liberty’ and all that, the proclamation itself was communal, conservative and fanatical. At Kollam War, the Proclamation would have enlisted only the support some Nair gentries and not the masses, as falsely claimed by caste-oriented and conservative   historians .. So at Kollam War, Thampi was isolated by the lower castes, peasants, slaves and the proletariat After Kollam, the greatest military blunder committed by Thampi was his brazen stupidity in allowing Lt.Col.Sgt.Leger enter Travancore through Aramboly Pass and that sealed the fate of Thampi. Velu Thampi failed militarily against the British even though he commanded a well trained army, armed with muskets and artillery organised 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 Nair gentry and bandits supported him. . In spite of all these resources, Velu Thampi  was seen fleeing from the battle field. It is recorded in the Asiatic Journal: "A large body of the enemy had taken post in the villages of Colar (Kottar)and Nagercoil, and the task of dislodging them was entrusted to a detachment under Lieut-colonel Macleod, of the King’s service. The country through which the detachment had to march was unfavourable, and the position which the enemy had chosen, strong and advantageous. Protected in front by a battery commanding the only point by which an assailant could approach, the defence was aided by the river, while in the rear were thick impassable woods. These advantages, however, were unavailing. The lines were attacked and carried, after a sharp action, and the enemy forced to retreat in confusion. At this place, the enemy had determined to make a resolute stand. The dewan himself had taken refuge there, and only fled on the approach of the British troops, whose proximity he naturally regarded with dislike."  (The Asiatic journal and monthly register for British and foreign India, China and Australasia, Volume 30, Wm. Allen And Co., London 1839, p..48)

IS IT A LIBERATION STRUGGLE? 

Like all insurrectionists,both Pazhassi Raja and Velu Thampy committed arson, murder, pillage and every kind of atrocity and brought serious damage to the lives and property of local people. Although Pazhassi and Thampi revolts are portrayed as ‘liberation struggle’ or ‘national movement’ by the so-called ‘progressive’ writers and reactionary caste bigots, in actual reality it was a rebellion by an upper strata reactionary clique in collusion with a decadent royalty .Pazhassi and Thampi were living in a jenmi (rowdy farm owners) era, decades away before the birth of the spirit and ideology of nationalism. As Rabindranath Tagore says, “India has never had a real sense of nationalism ….. In our early history, when the geographical limits of each country and also the facilities of communication were small, this problem was comparatively small in dimension. It was sufficient for men to develop their sense of unity within their area of segregation. In those days they combined among themselves and fought against others.”[7] How ridiculous it is to call Pazhassi and Thampi nationalists and ‘freedom fighters’ when both of them had not the slightest idea of nationalism? They had no moral scruples. Thampi who wanted to drive out the British was also negotiating with another colonial power -  France. . Lord Minto, Governor General, tells about the 'spirit of hostility on the part of the State of Travancore'  and it was 'deeply rooted' and therefore, Thampi was keen on seeking an alliance with the French. (Political Consultations, Letter from the Chief Secretary, Fort william to the Chief Secretary, Fort St. George, dated 10th April 1809, pp.788-97)  It is a clear evidence that Thampi was not stirred by the spirit of nationalism or patriotism, but was intoxicated  by  frothy avariciousness, based mainly upon ego, self-interest and  bloated .aggrandizement.  Pazhassi who wanted to free Malabar from Muslim rule was seen in Mysore negotiating with Tipu. So his feigned  assistance to   the Joint Commissioners to expel Tipu's soldiers was sheer hypocrisy. These unscrupulous men would be happy to sell their country in order to capture power. They had also committed gruesome murders for the sake of religion, caste and, above all, for their own personal power and authority. Pazhassi did not fight for his throne when Kottayam was under Hyder Ali and Tippu. Malabar was also subjected to heavy taxation during Mysorean occupation, and there was no opposition by Pazhassi, although there were intermittent rebellions by Nairs against the Mysoreans.  If the British had not intervened, the entire province of Malabar would have been annexed by Tippu.  It was only in the final phase when the British were in control of Malabar, Pazhassi  came forward to  assist General Abercromby by meeting him  at   Thalasserry in 1790  with his guerrilla army. 

Although some  opionated and pertinacious  writers claim without any evidence that Pazhassi was in Malabar during Mysorean invasions, British and Dutch records tell only about the attacks by  Eralppad (Second line Zamorin’s successor) and Ravi Varma against the Mysoreans. Even in the  organized attacks against the Mysore forces by the Kadathanad and Kottayam Nairs, Pazhassi was not sighted. Captain Thomas Henry, Colonel Humberstone, Major Macleod and Colonel Fullarton who were in Malabar fighting the Mysoreans do not mention the participation of Pazhassi. So in all probability Pazhassi woud have sought asylum in Travancore like all other Malabar Rajas. It was only after hearing about the defeat of Tipu that he would have probably  rushed to meet Robert Abercromby  with some Nairs to claim his right over his  uncle Kurumbranad Raja’s Kottayam kingdom pretending that he was aiding the British during the Mysorean Wars.

It is on record that during the Mysorean occupation of Malabar  the Chirakkal Raja and Kottayam Raja had fled to Travancore and the Malabar Commissioners granted  cowls to junior members who were available on the spot.  The Joint Directors were approached by the Kurumbranad Raja with valid documents to establish his legitimacy to Kottayam.  Kottayam province belonged to the Kurmbranad Raja. But Pazhassi thought that he could outwit his uncle, Kurumbranad Raja, by getting Kottayam for himself from the Joint Directors on the basis of his alleged support to the British. But the British knew that all the dispossessed Rjas of Malabar had supported them to be freed from Tipu's rule. The settlement worked out by the Joint Commissioners by giving his uncle authority to rule Kottayam was not liked by Pazhassi. So his opposition to Muslim rule was thrown overboard and he deputed Emmen Nair to Seringapatanam in 1797 to meet Tippu to forge an alliance. The New Indian Express, dated December 3, 2012 reported: “Kerala Charithram Part II’, the forthcoming book jointly authored by noted historians M R Raghava Warrier and Rajan Gurukkal, has sparked off a heated debate among historians regarding the relationship of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja with the British. Express on November 27 reported that, in the book, the authors had observed that the re-reading and re-interpretation of his letters to the East India Company officials in Malabar and Bombay revealed that Pazhassi Raja was loyal, submissive and subservient to the British authorities. Authors maintained that Pazhassi was more disturbed about his personal interests which were confined to the small hamlet of Northern Kottayam in Malabar.” When we recapitulate the events it becomes transparent that Pazhassi’s character is marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending to support the British and at the same time sending emissaries to Tippu.Both Thampi and Pazhassi initially allied with the British to get power for themselves and in this respect they were quislings and collaborators and not patriots.

Kurichiyars 

The so-called peasant revolt, Kurichiyar revolts etc., are fantasy of academicians who had never studied the ground reality. There was no organized, politically educated and socially advanced Kurichiyar tribal association in the jungles of Wyanad. They were mere mercenaries, coolies and they would fight for the British if they had offered them money or rice or huts.The Kurichiyars were subservient to Tipu when Wayanad was controlled by his men. So they were not a militant, rebellious tribe. Edachenna Kungan Nair got the support of the Kurichiyars because he had killed a peon who went to a Kurichiya house to demand some paddy. Although Kurichiyar tribes were given military training by Edachenna Kungan, the British could easily defeat a trained Kurichiya leader, Talakal Chandu. Time was not ripe for such peasant revolts, for they were under the iron grip of jenmis. They lacked political consciousness and organisation. The hill tribes were instigated by Pazhassi to shoot arrows from hideouts in jungles. But they could not continue the resistance. Baber wrote to the Collector: " The Kooramars (Kurumbar) a numerous race of bowmen by far the most rude of all the Wynadians, had to a man deserted their habitations and estates and betaken themselves to the strongest parts of the country, where they had removed thir families and were dragging on a miserable existence, labouring under the dreadful impression that it was he intention of our Government to extirpate the race." (Logan, p.545).

 Some writers have wrongly interpreted Kurichiyar unrest as peasant agitation for autonomy. The trouble arose when the Kurichiyars were asked to pay the land revenue in money. There was no demand for their produce in market. and they had to sell their grain 'at ruinous prices ' to pay the revenue. It was not an agitation by an organized group but a spontaneous opposition to be relieved of the revenue burden. The trouble was quickly solved by establishing a chain of posts in the forest areas. Some left-leaning intellectuals have attempted to interpret the Kurichiyar unrest as peasant rebellion.Traditional Marxist thinking relegated peasants to a class which Marx believed represented "barbarism within civilization" — people who were unable to develop revolutionary consciousness and only wanted land and bread (food)..In a series of newspaper articles published in the 1850s in the New York Daily Tribune, Marx specifically discussed the impact of British colonialism in India. His analysis was consistent with his general theory of political and economic change. He described India as an essentially feudal society experiencing the painful process of modernization. Wayanad peasants - Kurichiyars and Kurumbars - had some similarities with the Chinese peasants of the pre-Mao revolution. The social structure of China was obsolete. In particular, the gentry class (landlords who sometimes were also local officials) was an obstacle to modernization. They dominated the peasants, who made up the vast majority of the population. Almost all of them lived in abject poverty, dying like flies in the recurrent famines. In Wayanad, tribal peasants were under the control of Nayar gentry or tribal leaders. There were no peasant associations in Wayanad, and it is ridiculous to call .community (Kurichiyar)  or tribal (Kurumbar)  unrest due to poverty or starvation as 'peasant rebellion.'  Marx's call in 1848 for the workers of the world to unite, to realise in union their enormous social potential, had not reached the illiterate and ignorant masses of Kurichiyars. It was only in the mid-1930s that we see the beginnings of peasants and labour unions in Malabar when the Communist Party was in an embryonic stage. They were not labour unions in the real sense of the term but loose caste or tribal or paddy field workers claiming with humility more grain or some privileges. It was only in 1939 that communists under the leadership of A.K. Gopalan, E.M.S. Nambuthiripad and P. Krishna Pillai met in secret conclave at Pinarayi and formed the Communist Party of Malabar. Malabar peasants in the pre-colonial period were not like the serbs of pre-Bolshevik Russia. Kathleen Gough argues that the limitations of Indian peasant revolts have sprung more from broader political forces at the level of the province and the colonial and post-colonial state than from the caste system or from peculiarities of village structure.[8]. 
After bringing Malabar under their control, the British wanted to maintain law and order and their policy was not to allow native princes to disturb the peace of the land (Pax Brittanica). . The Joint Commissioners got complaints from the Mappillas that the Pazhassi Raja not only allowed but encouraged the Nayars “to oppress and maltreat the Mappillas and to injure their mosques … in revenge for former molestation of a similar nature by the Mappillas.”[9] The Commissioners got another report that Pazhassi killed a Mappilla who attempted to build a mosque, without giving him the customary gifts. When the British questioned him, he expressed surprise at his not being “allowed to follow and be guided by ancient customs” in the execution of an erring Mappilla”[9].In another case, as Logan puts it: “Two Mappillas were suspected of having committed a robbery in the house of a Chetti. The Raja explained afterwards that they committed the crime; they were certainly kept in confinement for some months. Then they were tried according to the ancient usage of the country, it was alleged, and on their own confessions were sentenced to death. Their execution was carried out on or about the above date ( 28th June 1795) at Venkad by impalement alive according to ancient customs.” (Logan, p.503). The Company authorities got intelligence about this murder early in July and they felt that Pazhsasy should not be allowed to take law into his own hands after the entire Province had been ceded to the British. Again, in September 1793, in a scuffle between Pazhassi’s men and the Mappillas, six Mapillas were killed.[10] The Joint Commissioners found Pazhassi to be “the most untractable and unreasonable of all the Rajahs.”[11] 

VELU THAMPI'S SWORD
There has been a lot of talk about Velu Thampi’s sword. As the Hindu reports, “The 200-year-old weapon is a double-edged straight sword, which tapers towards the end and has shallow grooves on its flat side… Conservation experts at the Kerala State Archaeology Department said the ‘blood grooves or fullers’ helped lighten the sword without compromising its strength. It also prevented the blade and hilt from getting slippery with blood during combat. [12] But this strong sword in the hands of Velu Thampi could not kill Macaulay or Canju (Kunju) Krishna Menon. But it killed innocent, unarmed civilians, women and children. An unarmed party of European military officers and soldiers, including Surgeon Hume, 32 Europeans of H.M.s 12th Regt. and another party of 30 Indian sepoys were at that time proceeding from Kollam to Kochi. A sudden storm and hostile weather drove the British officers into the Port of Alappuzha. Velu Thampi and Pulpoo Pillay pretended to offer shelter and later butchered them in cold blood. Their bodies tied to their necks with stones were put in sacks and consigned to the bottom of the Pallathurthi river.[13] A sick European lady who was in their company was allowed to proceed to Kochi. Wilson in his History of British India (1805 -1835 A.D.) says, " During this interval they ( the Nayar troops) disgraced their cause by acts of atrocity, which served no purpose except that of provoking retribution. An assistant surgeon of the name of Hume, travelling at night on the 30th of January was seized on his route, and led into the presence of the Dewan, who, although he knew the young man personally, and had benefited by his professional advice, commanded him to be conducted to the sea-side where he was put to death and buried in the sand. About the same time, a small vessel with some of the soldiers of the 12th regiment on board, having touched at Alepi for supplies, the men were induced to land by the appearance of cordiality among the people, and assurances that part of the subsidy force was in the neighbourhood. Unaware that hostilities had commenced, the men, thirty in number, disembarked. and as soon as they landed were made prisoners, and shortly afterwards, murdered. This was also done by order of the Dewan, who thus effaced by his perfidy and cruelty, whatever credit he might have claimed for zeal in the cause of his country and his prince."(quoted in Travancore manual). Thampi’s killing spree of innocent persons did not end with the bloody massacre of about unarmed 70 persons at the beach at Poracaud. When Thampi and Achan could not win any major victory, they, like bloodthirsty hyenas, targeted civilians, mostly Christians. One is sickened by the raw brutality of the shooting and the craven attempts for the cover-up of this bloody massacre by the so-called ‘progressive’ writers. As Agur says: “Now the enemies in Cochin pursuant to orders received pillaged the houses of Christians demolished their gardens, and even cruelly murdered many Christians the whole way to Travancore.... True to his professed hatred against Christians the Dewan now commenced to perpetrate a series of atrocities against them, secretly planned and most villainously carried out. The dreadful massacre of Travancore Christians was conducted under the authority of the Dewan by an Officer of the Travncore Government named Coonjee Cootty Pillay (Kunju Kutty Pillay)) having the rank of Sarvady Kariakkar. ... From detailed accounts it would appear that nine(9) priests and upwards of three thousand (3000) Christians, men, women and children were maimed, tortured and butchered and thrown into the backwater. In the same manner Travancore's ally, Cochin Dewan Paliat Achan also wreaked his full vengeance on the poor Christians of Cochin. Some were mangled, and some with their hands and feet tied together were thrown into the sea. When the Residency was burnt down and pillaged and Col. Macaulay escaped to the sea, he says that his heart yearned when he saw the bodies of thousands of Christians with hands and feet tied together floating on the sea." [15] An impartial survey of the events will show that Velu Thampi and Palith Achan marginalized and targeted Christians to wipe them out of Travancore and Kochi. It is what the jihadists have been doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pazhassi-Thampi rebellion was not a liberation struggle as falsely projected by 'progressive' and 'rabid communal' writers, but it represents the reactionary Taliban insurgency which wanted to turn the clock back to the days of sati, female infanticide and caste oppression. They wanted to return to a real or imagined old order of things, and they were not hesitant to use coercive means to do so. Certainly, the Taliban represents reactionary, tribal policies for the population, and it would certainly impose a despotic regime with its own version of shariah law. Similarly, Thampi and Pazhassi strove hard to establish the ancien regime. In fact it was a revolt of the rulers whose territories had been annexed to create a united province, rapacious chieftains who were bleeding the tenants, bandits who had lost power and prestige, traditional Nayar aristocracy cherishing the memory of vanished glory, protesting against modernization and westernization that was growing up around them. These reactionaries were shipwrecked in their bid to block the march of history and yet they watched  with horror the currents of modernity sweeping  everything down a course they despised. Pazhassi and Thampi could be termed as fossilized reactionaries or die-hard traditionalists, or quislings depending on what paradigm one applied to interpret their actions..


 Dr.A.Yeshuratnam Former Principal and HOD Malabar Christian College, Calicut

. [1] Woodcock, George, Kerala ,Faber and Faber, London, 1967, p. 186
 [2]Correspondence relating to Pychi Raja’s Rebellion, 1805, pp.409-433.
 [3] Agur, C.M. Church History of Travancore,Asian Educational Services, Delhi, p.533.
 [4] . C.U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, relating to India and neighboring countries. Vol. X, p. 135
 [5] Woodcock, George, op.cit. p.189
[6] The Hindu, May 12, 2013
 [7] From Rabindranath Tagore’s Lectures on Nationalism,1917 tags: India Independence day, Nationalism in South Asia
 [8] Gough, Kathleen, Indian Peasant Uprisings, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol.8, No.3: July-September 1976
 [9] Joint Commissioners’ Report, p.87
 [10] Logan, William, Malabar, Vol.I.Government Press, Madras,1951, pp.497f
 [11] ibid
12] Wilson, J.A. Report on Malabar, October 15, 1801, pp.1-3
 [13] The Hindu, May 12, 2013
 [14] Agur, C.M., op.cit., p.529
[15] Ibid

Curieux, à l'analyse d'événements dans l'histoire du Kerala (Inquisitive analysis of events in Kerala History)

PORTUGUESE ST. ANGELO FORT, KANNUR, AND A MIRACLE ON ST. MARY’S DAY

Curieux, à l'analyse d'événements dans l'histoire du Kerala   (Inquisitive analysis of events in Kerala History)

Abraham Yeshuratnam.

Vasco da Gama's departure to India, in 1497

Fort St Angelo is a historic monument built by the Portuguese at a tip of land in Kannur which juts out into the sea.  This fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India. Beginning in the 1400s, the Portuguese, led by famous explorers like Bartolomeo Dias and Vasco de Gama and financed by Prince Henry the Navigator, explored, and settled in South America, Africa, and Asia. Vasco da Gama was the first European to open a sea-based trade route to India and in an epic voyage, he sailed around Africa's Cape of Good Hope and succeeded in breaking the monopoly of Arab and Venetian spice traders. At that time, the Arabs held a monopoly of trade with India and other Eastern nations.  Vasco da Gama’s expedition turned the commerce of Europe from the Mediterranean cities to the Atlantic Coast, and opened up the east to European enterprise. His discovery was monumental in the history of navigation as well as instrumental in establishing Portugal as a major colonial empire. The profitable trade in eastern spices was seized by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the detriment of Venice.  Venice had a virtual monopoly of these valuable commodities which were brought overland through India and Arabia, and then across the Mediterranean by the Venetians for distribution in Western Europe. But once the Portuguese had discovered their new route to India, they displayed considerable zeal in seizing the most profitable ports of East Africa, the Persian Gulf, Gujarat, Konkan, Sri Lankan  and Malabar regions in India. A chain of fortified coastal settlements backed by regular naval patrols allowed the Portuguese to eliminate gradually many rivals, and enforce a semi-monopoly in the spice trade by the middle of the 16th century. Local traders were coerced into buying safe passes and paying customs duties to the Portuguese and by this process the Portuguese succeeded in blocking Malabar’s link to Arabia and to redirect the trade via Lisbon. This success had come about mainly because, unlike the trading ships of the Arabs, the Portuguese ships were extremely well-armed for their times.  As the second half of the fifteenth century unfolded, Portugal created a complex trade structure connecting India and the African coast to Portugal and, then, to the north of Europe. This consisted of a net of trading posts (feitorias) along the African coast, where goods were shipped to Portugal, and then re-exported to Flanders. In Flanders also the Portuguese opened a feitoria.  Luciano Amaral observes, “The Portuguese established a virtual monopoly of these African commercial routes until the early sixteenth century. The only threat to that trade structure came from pirates originating in Britain, Holland, France and Spain. One further element of this trade structure was the link established with Atlantic Islands (Madeira, the Azores and the African archipelagos of Cape Verde and São Tomé). These islands contributed such goods as wine, wheat and sugar cane. After the sea route to India was discovered and the Portuguese were able to establish regular connections with India, the trading structure of the Portuguese empire became more complex. Now the Portuguese began bringing multiple spices, precious stones, silk and woods from India, again based on a net of feitorias they had established. The maritime route to India acquired an extreme importance to Europe, precisely at this time, since the Ottoman Empire was then able to block the traditional inland-Mediterranean route that supplied the continent with Indian goods.”[i]  The Portuguese attempted to block Malabar’s link to Arabia and to redirect the trade via Lisbon.

Vasco da Gama's passage to India
Vasco Da Gama’s fleet sailed for 23 days and landed at Calicut on May 20, 1498.  Although Calicut was the prime trading centre, the Zamorin was under the influence of the Arab traders and local Moplah merchants. He had no knowledge of the expanding maritime trade in Europe. . He believed the biased account of the Arabs and was not friendly with the Portuguese even after Vasco da Gama met him in his palace.  There was even treachery and deceit and the Nair captain of the guard of the Zamorin even imprisoned da Gama and some Portuguese sailors. Vasco Da Gama and other Portuguese were ignorant of the landscape and language. They were taken through thickets and strange lanes by Zamorin’s men. The Arabs who had bribed the chief guard had even persuaded him to kill Da Gama as he went through the lonely thicket; but the chief guard was afraid to do so, fearing the consequences. Towle says:  “The afternoon was far spent; yet the captain of the guard, as he led the company through the long, low streets, seemed to be in no haste. They made many turnings, and were so long on their way, that Vasco da Gama began to suspect foul play. His suspicions were ere long amply verified. They kept going from street to street until the afternoon deepened into twilight, and twilight into night.”[ii] In this manner Da Gama and others were taken through lanes and villages for a day and another night. After all this hardship, the Nair guard took them to a strange house and imprisoned them. The Portuguese were quite uncomfortable in the room because the weather was sultry and hot. There was no furniture and only coarse straw mats were in the room and the Portuguese had to use the straw mats for sitting and sleeping. Towle gives a sordid account of imprisonment: “Vasco passed a lonely and sleepless night in the solitude of his new prison, and was relieved when, in the morning, he was at last led to the captain of the guard. The captain was sitting on a couch. When Vasco entered, he neither offered him a seat, nor spoke to him: a surly frown was on his dark face. In a moment or two Joan Nunez was brought in to interpret what was said. After shifting them to another village, the Nair chief summoned Gama and spoke in an insolent tone, through Nunez, to Vasco da Gama. "We have heard," he said, "from Mombaza, that you Portuguese are robbers, going about the seas plundering; and the Zamorin has ordered that your ships should be taken, and all of you kept prisoners till you confess the truth. Now, you had better tell me the truth, and I will go and relate it to the Zamorin."[iii] It was a bitter experience for him and he and other Portuguese feared that they would be killed by these men. The Arabs had bribed the Nair guard and were instigating him to kill Vasco Da Gama. Towle says: “In the middle of the night some Nairs came in and, deposited on the floor some boiled rice, with fig-leaves for plates, some boiled fish which was not very savory, and a large jar of water. Several of the Portuguese ate and drank, but others were too much agitated to be hungry; and Vasco da Gama did not touch the food.”[iv] 


Vasco da Gama kept as a prisoner.


To add to their discomforts, the night was very hot, and the room in which they were imprisoned was very narrow. Vasco da Gama was expecting his death at any moment.  “At this juncture Paulo da Gama (Vasco’s brother who was in the ship) released the hostages on board honorably and with rich presents, and made pretence to sail away. The hostages demanded to be put to death by the king if Da Gama were to be slain, and their demands were backed up by both the Treasurer and the king’s Justice out of envy at the rich presents offered by the Moors to the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard.”[v] The Palace Guard stood fully exposed by the revelation of the hostages. The Zamorin freed Vasco da Gama with apologies. This incident also shows the rampant corruption, jealousy and treachery in Zamorin’s palace. When the Zamorin came to know later the full story from the Castilian who returned after seeing Da Gama on board, the Zamorin sent off a boat with a Brahmin asking Da Gama to return to see the punishment given by him to the Palace Guard.  Vasco da Gama declined the offer but vowed in his mind that he would wreak vengeance on the Zamorin and the Arabs for the manner in which he had been treated. Probably this was the reason for the brutal action taken by Da Gama during his second visit on the Arabs and the Zamorin.

THE BACKSTORY OF ST ANGELO FORT

 After the bitter and harrowing experience in Calicut, Da Gama did not want to prolong his stay in India and decided to leave for Lisbon at once. He intended to sail directly for the African coast, and thence around the Cape of Good Hope home. But he could not carry out his plan because no sooner the ships reached open sea than they were struck by violent winds, and were forced to proceed slowly along the Malabar Coast.  As they moved slowly northwards along the coast, one fine morning Da Gama sighted   Kannur (Cannanore). The old name Cannanore is the anglicized form of the Malayalam name Kannur. “Running up the coast they were met by boats sent out by the king of Cannanore (the Kolathiri Raja) to intercept them and da Gama decided to visit the place, but declined to land.”[vi] Probably Kolathiri Raja would have come to know how da Gama was treated in Calicut and how the Zamorin later realized his mistake and apologized by sending a Brahmin to the ship.   As soon as the ships appeared off Cannanore, therefore, the Kolathiri Raja sent out boats with messengers who requested da Gama to meet the king. They had also offered da Gama presents of jars of food and water, figs, fowls, fish, and butter. “Vasco da Gama was greatly pleased at this, and displayed his flags and fired his cannon in token of his good will  At first he hesitated about going ashore; but the king sent messengers  to him so many times, and urged him so earnestly, that at last he yielded.”[vii]  Da Gama was suspicious of the character of Indian kings, especially after the treachery he experienced at the hands of the Zamorin.. He was hesitant to land because he narrowly escaped at Calicut, but the Koalthiri .” then sent him ships loaded with water, lumber, figs, poultry, coconuts dried fish, coconut oil and butter. With these deeds the king wanted to show his interest to make peace and friendship with the Portuguese.”[viii]  Da Gama was moved by this friendly gesture of the Kolathiri and decided to meet him. Vasco da Gama sent Nicolau Coelho with a gift to Kolathiri. . Kolathiri constructed a pavilion on the beach to receive Vasco da Gama and his brother Paulo Gama. They went in their boats fully dressed in Portuguese style and carrying with them presents. Kolathiri expressed his willingness to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with the King of Portugal. What is more, he gave them whatever goods they wished to complete the cargoes of the ships. This offer was a great relief for Da Gama because in Calicut he was not allowed to buy good spices but was given only goods of low standard. As Towls says: “Their stay at Cananor, which continued for nearly three weeks, was full of pleasant incidents, and interchanges of friendly acts between the king and the captains. They gave him a splendid sword enameled with gold, coral, silver, brass, and copper basins, and silks and cotton cloths; and he, in return, presented each of them with a large gold collar set with rare gems, and a heavy gold chain with a jewel hanging from it crusted with diamonds and rubies.”[ix] Vasco da Gama’s accidental visit to Cannanore had historical importance in Kerala history.  Calicut and Zamorin were in the minds of the Portuguese when they started to India. Now da Gama had new ideas and he planned to have a fort in Cananore (the future Angelo fort) and to use Kolathiri to fight the Zamorin. By the time Vasco da Gama returned from his first voyage to India in 1499, he had spent more than two years away from home, including 300 days at sea, and had traveled some 24,000 miles. Only 54 of his original crew of 170 men returned with him; the majority (including da Gama's brother Paolo) had died of illnesses such as scurvy.

What was the overall importance of Vasco's voyage and what effect does it have on history? Da Gama was totally disappointed when he could not buy enough goods at Calicut because of the ignorance of the Zamorin about international trade and the treachery of his officers and Arabs. But it was fully compensated when the Kolathiri made generous offer to the Portuguese and it ‘helped them to purchase a cargo which, less than a year later in Lisbon, was sold at prices that brought in sixty times the cost of the expedition.” [x] K.M. Panikkar, whose judgments are  coloured by parochial spirit, says “There is nothing in Vasco da Gama’s discovery which entitles him to the claim of a great explorer or navigator.”[xi]  On the other hand, the world-renowned historian, Will Durant, is of the view that Vasco da Gama's voyage helped one of the greatest commercial revolutions before the invention of the airplane: "The discoveries begun by Henry the Navigator, advanced by Vasco da Gama, culminating in Columbus, and rounded out by Magellan effected the greatest commercial revolution in history before the coming of the airplane.".[xii]  Another outcome of da Gama's voyages was the Muslims' loss of control of the Indian Ocean to the Portuguese in trade. Because of this, many Arab nations entered a state of economic decline.

 Panikkar has sidelined the revolution in international trade by ignoring the fact that direct access to India allowed the Portuguese to eliminate the Arab and Levantine middlemen who had controlled the European export market till about 1440 from Cairo and Alexandria.  George M. Towle’s view is totally opposed to the opinion of Panikkar. “Chosen by accident to make a difficult and dangerous voyage, to sail into unknown and savage regions, and to discover a distant and splendid empire, he (Vasco da Gama) fulfilled his task with such glorious success, that, on his return, all Europe rang with his praises.”[xiii]  Panikkar debunks Malabar History when he declares that “the historical role of the Zamorin, which was to resist foreign aggression”[xiv]  But there are concrete evidences to show the Zamorin appeasing foreign powers that helped them to strengthen their position. He forged many alliances and fought several battles in 1516, 1616 with the support of Mamluks ,Ottomans and even Venetians, but the Zamorin repeatedly failed in the battles.  The Zamorin even sought the help of the Portuguese when Kunjali IV defied the Zamorin by declaring himself ‘the king of the Moslems and Lord of the India seas’ and by cutting off the tail of one of Zamorin’s state elephants as a token of abandoning his allegiance with the Zamorin.  Panikkar gives excessive and undeserving praise for the Zamorin’s victory at Chailiyam, ignoring his  humiliating defeat  at the  key battles of Cannanore and Diu. “With their expulsion from Chaliyam,” Panikkar gloats, “ it may be said that the Portuguese effort to control Kerala came to an end.” But the battle at Chaliyam was a minor skirmish where the siege lasted from June to September when owing to heavy monsoon rains, the Portuguese ships could not bring reinforcements to the besieged factors.   Besides, the Portuguese lost interest in Calicut because they were getting adequate pepper from Cochin and Kollam, the richest pepper-growing regions.  Contrary to Panikkar’s claim the Portuguese control over Calicut did not come to an end after the Battle of Chaliyam. The Zamorin sought the help of the Portuguese when he had to face the challenge of the Kunjalis. In 1584 the Zamorin allowed the Portuguese to establish a fort at Ponnani in his own kingdom . In 1587 Portuguese were allowed to live in Calicut and even to build a church there. ‘Matri Dei Cathedral’, also known as ‘Mother of God Cathedral’ at Calicut was built with the  financial help and personal supervision of  the Zamorin. 

Panikkar's analysis that the Zamorin had never yielded to a foreigner is again proved false when  the Zamorin allied with the Dutch against Vettathunad forces. When the British appeared on the stage, the Zamorin tried every means to please them.  The Zamorin wrote his first letter on 10^th March 1616 to King James I of Great Britain and in the letter he wrote: “I do hereby faithfully promise to be and continue a friend to the English, and my successors after me.”[xv]  The letter was written aboard the Dragon, at the port of Kodungallur, in Malayalam to be translated into English and with his signature Pūnturakkōn Cīṭṭu. .”  In these circumstances, it becomes embarrassingly obvious that the claims of some historians that the Zamorin had never kowtowed before foreign powers reveal only their pseudo-patriotism.

 Panikkar writes bluntly: “It is customary to speak about the Portuguese Empire” or “Portuguese Power” in India as if it were something distantly alike, and predecessor to the British Empire. … The Portuguese never had any “Empire” in India.”[xvi] But historical facts prove otherwise and  the Portuguese indeed had an empire. Since the fall of Rome, there has been no empire based in Europe which extended outside the continent. This situation changed abruptly in the 16th century, when Portugal and Spain became the pioneers in a new era of colonization. Along the coasts of Africa, India, and China, the Portuguese established a series of trading posts over which they hoisted their flag as a sign that these bits of territory had been annexed to the Portuguese Crown.  Many former Portuguese colonies have today, been subsumed into modern day countries with their representatives at the U.N. What Panikkar failed to see was the policy of the Portuguese was not to have a political empire but a commercial empire.  Bold admirals like Almeida consciously resisted any tendency to extend Portuguese enclaves inland: da Gama even advised the abandonment of Ormuz, Malacca, and all the Indian forts except Goa and Cochin. Almeida wrote to King Dom Manuel: “The greater number of fortresses you hold the weaker will be your power. Let all our forces will be on the sea, because if we should not be powerful at the sea, everything at once be against us…….Let it be known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at the sea you will hold India as yours, and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on the shore….” [xvii] In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portugal inaugurated nothing less than a commercial revolution and laid the foundations of a commercial empire.  As Perry Anderson says, “This Portuguese Empire of the 16th century was the creation of a specific type of imperialism, an imperialism of exchange.”[xviii]

CRAVING FOR SPICES.

The spice trade was hugely important for Portugal and soon after da Gama’s return, King Manuel dispatched a much larger fleet, commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral to capitalize on da Gama’s discoveries and secure a trading post at Calicut. The treachery experienced by Da Gama from the Zamorin of Calicut made it still more necessary for the Portuguese to be strong enough to punish, as well as to invade, the enemy; and when Pedro Alvarez Cabral sailed in 1500 in command of the second expedition to India his vessels were formidably armed with artillery.

Cabral was more successful than Vasco da Gama had been at developing a friendly relationship with the Zamorin.  This time the Portuguese were better prepared and brought lavish goods with which to tempt the Zamorin into a trade. The Zamorin agreed to let Cabral’s carpenters build a factory and warehouse. But the Arabs were fuming with anger when they saw a Portuguese warehouse and a fierce mob of between 300 and several thousand (reports vary a lot) attacked the factory and killed fifty Portuguese. The surviving Portuguese scrambled back to their ships – some had to swim. Cabral was shocked at the sudden turn of events.  “Cabral waited twenty-four hours for an apology from the Zamorin. When he heard nothing, Cabral ordered his soldiers to seize ten Arab merchant ships that were at anchor in the harbor. The Portuguese killed over 600 Arab crew members, confiscated their cargoes, and then set the ships on fire. Cabral finished his display of power by ordering his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day.”[xix]  Cabral was not at all satisfied with the behavior of the Zamorin and he suspected treachery. The Zamorin was ignorant, short sighted and flippant .  He lacked administrative ability by allowing the Arabs to control trade,  he was also incompetent  at planning military campaigns which led to many defeats in major battles  and had  many personality flaws which made regional rulers such as the Kolathiri and Kochi Raja  hate him.   He was under the influence of the Arabs and his own Brahmin advisers. He was totally in the dark about the emerging maritime enterprise of the Portuguese and he still believed that the Arabs were in control of the sea route to Arabia. (It was this foolish dependence on the support of the local Muslims and Arabs that led to the decline of Zamorin’s power in later years and finally to  the suicide by one of the Zamorins at the time of Hyder’s invasion. Tipu had links with the Ottoman sultan).  So the perfidious and vacillating  character of the Zamorin prompted Cabral prepare a plan for action for  future voyages and came to the conclusion that the Portuguese “were few in numbers and that those who would come to India in the future fleets would always be at numerical disadvantage; so that this treachery must be punished in a manner so decisive that the Portuguese would be feared and respected in the future. It was their superior artillery which would enable them to accomplish this end.”[xx]

 Cabral then sailed to Kochi and the Kochi raja permitted Cabral to build another factory and load his ships with spices. Cabral’s voyage is remembered for the establishment of the first Portuguese trading post in India.  This Portuguese trading post adversely affected the spice trade linking India to Egypt and Venice and the price for this essential commodity shot up.[xxi] Arab shipping also suffered and the sea was no more safe for the Arabs. In 1503, an Egyptian ship returning from India was attacked for the first time and it was robbed and finally sunk by the Portuguese.[xxii] Later Arab ships were also attacked and destroyed by the Portuguese in the Indian harbor of Panaji. [xxiii]  

Cabral afterwards moved on to Kannur to renew the friendly ties with the Kolathiri established earlier by Vasco da Gama. His visit to Kannur shows the importance given by the Portuguese to Kannur. Kolathiri welcomed him with open arms and asked him   “to take rest from his tasks at sea.”   Cabral requested the Kolathiri to give the Portuguese a comfortable and safe place for the crew to stay and even pointed the tip of the bay as a suitable place for their settlement. Kolathiri readily agreed and a fitting site selected by Cabral was given for building the quarters and a stockade. In addition to the quarters for the crew, a house with a porch was also built which was used as a chapel for Our Lady of Conception, and attached to it another building was also constructed to house the clergy.[xxiv].  Cabral left Gonçalo Gomes Ferreira at Cannanore as the factor in 1501 and laid the foundation for a factory there.[xxv] .  Pai Rodrigues the factor of Alvaro who came to Malabar in the fleet of João da Nova in 1501 remained at Cannanore till the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1502.[xxvi].   During the second visit of da Gama, Cananore was again given prominence overlooking Calicut  by  establishing a factory there in 1503[xxvii]  He also appointed Gonçalo Gil Barbosa and to assist him Sebastião Alvares and Diogo Alvares were made copyists. In addition to these postings, a group of twenty men were also put in charge of the factory.[xxviii].                        

King Manuel was deeply upset by the murder of fifty Portuguese by the Muslims at Calicut in collaboration with the Zamorin. To avenge this deed a new fleet was fitted out in Lisbon and sent against Calicut to establish Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean. At first the command was given to Cabral, but it was later transferred to da Gama, who in January 1502 was given the rank of admiral. Da Gama himself commanded 10 ships, which were in turn supported by two flotillas of five ships each, each flotilla being under the command of one of his relations.

During this interval, Arab traders had become dominant in Malabar and controlled the sea-trade of the region with the Persian Gulf.  After reaching the Indian shore, Gama called at Goa before proceeding to Kannur, where it is alleged by some writers he lay in wait for Arab shipping.  It is related that after several days an Arab ship arrived with merchandise and between 200 and 400 passengers, including women and children. After seizing the cargo, da Gama is said to have shut up the passengers aboard the captured ship and set it afire, killing all on board.[xxix] But there is no documentary or eyewitness evidence to this cruel deed.  Portuguese records have no reference to this ghastly deed.  This occurrence is linked only to late and unreliable sources and may be legendary or at least exaggerated. Most probably Muslim writers would have invented the story to incite the locals against the Portuguese.[xxx] 

It may be worthwhile to ponder the causes for the deep hostility between the Portuguese and Arabs. Portuguese had bitter memories of Muslim invasion of their country in the eighth century. The Islamic rulers imposed restrictions on building new churches and synagogues.  In addition, the Christian and Jewish population had to pay a special tax, and in some areas they were treated as slaves.  There was also a brief period of Christian persecution in the 8th century. Islam ruled the Peninsula from then until the fifteenth century till the Christian Reconquista started repelling it with growing efficiency. Reconquista in English is Reconquest, and  in medieval Spain and Portugal, a series of campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from the Muslims (Moors), who had occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century. Modern Portugal is a direct result of the Reconquista, the Christian fight against Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. That successful fight was followed by the period when Portugal as a nation came to existence. It is against this backdrop that we have to comprehend the causes for the bitter antagonism between Muslims and the Portuguese from the very moment Vasco da Gama met the Arab merchants at the Zamorin’s court.                                                             

After da Gama formed an alliance with the ruler of Kannur,   the fleet sailed to Calicut, with the aim of wrecking its trade and punishing the Zamorin for murdering fifty Portuguese sailors and for the favour he had shown to Muslim traders. Da Gama bombarded the port and seized and massacred 38 hostages. The Portuguese then sailed south to the port of Kochi, with whose ruler they formed an alliance. After an invitation to da Gama from the Zamorin had proved to be an attempt to entrap him, the Portuguese had a brief fight with Arab ships off Calicut and put them to full flight.  Then he came to Kannur and the Kolathiri received da Gama enthusiastically and expressed his admiration for defeating Zamorin’s navy and sinking his ship. From that time onward, the Portuguese wanted to keep the alliance with the Kolathiri on a permanent basis to control the trade in Malabar and, more importantly, to subdue the Zamorin.  Da Gama boldly entered the interior region of Kannur and with other Portuguese sailors he attended a mass in the church.[xxxi]  Kolathiri also made a courtesy call and he was accompanied by his nephew and four thousand Nayar swordsmen. Vasco da Gama concluded a treaty of commerce with the Kolathiri and it was agreed by the Kolathiri to supply goods at fixed prices.[xxxii] Portuguese factors were allowed to stay in Kannur and the Kolathiri allotted ten Nayars as guards and to work as messengers.  Gaspar Correia points out this is the treaty where the Portuguese _cartaz _ system was first introduced. Henceforth, every merchant ship along the Malabar Coast had to present a certificate signed by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol.[xxxiii]   Kolathiri Raja was pleased with the agreement signed with the Portuguese and he gave da Gama more gifts and after loading his ships with more spices , the fleet sailed to Melinde at the end of November 1498[xxxiv].It was this friendly  contact that da Gama made with the Kolathiri that made Cannanore a major trading centre. The strategic importance of the cape of Cannanore helped the Portuguese to expand their maritime activates to lands beyond Malabar ,to Gujarat and to Sri Lanka..

Almeida

Francisco de Almeida became famous after he won many wars against the Moors. In 1503 Portuguese king Manuel I appointed Almeida as the first governor and viceroy of the Portuguese State of India (Estado da Índia). King Manuel   sent instructions to Viceroy Francisco de Almeida pointing out  that nothing would serve us better than to have a fortress at the mouth of the Red Sea or near to it – rather inside it than outside might afford better control – because from there we could see to it that no spices might pass to the land of the sultan of Egypt, and all those in India would lose the false notion that they could trade any more, save through us[xxxv] .   Setting forth with a powerful fleet of 21 ships, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope and, sailing up Africa’s east coast, took Kilwa (in what is now Tanzania), where he constructed a fort. He then proceeded to Mombasa where a much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors, but the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida[xxxvi].  On his arrival in India he took up his residence at Cochin,  where a Portuguese “feitoria” (factory) had been built earlier by Cabral.

Trade with India was exercised almost exclusively by Muslims—Arabs, Persians, Turks and Egyptians. Almeida’s plan was to drive these ‘infidels’ from the seas, to make the Indian Ocean Portuguese Lake, and to divert the Indian export-trade to the Cape route.  But Egypt was supreme in the Red Sea, and the Ottoman Empire, which had access to the Persian Gulf at Basra—possessed naval forces quite strong enough to cope with any European rival.  They had once enjoyed an almost virtual monopoly on the eastern spice and silk trade via the Red Sea and Levant ports that had received their goods overland from India   Almeida’s strategy was to change all the rules and to completely upset the balance - with an open sea route to Indian ports. He established an alternative route to India, without paying any taxes to Ottoman Empire.  The Ottomans were not prepared to accept this degrading status.  This alternate route of the Portuguese turned out to be the very first step of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Determined to make Portugal the paramount power in the East and to monopolize the spice trade, he erected a series of fortified posts. Almeida aggressively resisted the Arab traders, seized and sank many of their ships and forced the Zamorin to agree to a treaty permitting Portuguese trade in the area. Within 50 years of Vasco Da Gama's arrival the Portuguese had occupied Goa, Mumbai, Diu, defeated the Sultan of Gujarat and established a long loosely linked chain of seaport fortresses and trading posts in Onor, Barceló, Mangalore, Kannur, Cranganore, Cochin, and Kollam . Alongside the age of Columbus, there is an equally significant Vasco da Gama era of history. Gama's voyage had finally demolished the ancient authority of Ptolemaic geography, which held the Indian Ocean to be a closed lake.  Poor and small, Portugal was at the edge of late medieval Europe. But its seafarers created the age of ‘globalization’, which continues to this day, as Roger Crowley explains[xxxvii]. The Swahili Arab dominance in trade was soon challenged, setting in motion a great struggle for trade supremacy.  The economic fate of Venice Italy, as well as of Muslim traders, was endangered by Portugal’s breakthrough into the Indian Ocean. Girolamo Priuli, a noble in Venice, wrote in an entry in his diary from 1501.” This news, as has been said above, was considered very bad news for the city of Venice... Whence it is that the King of Portugal has found this new voyage, and that the spices which were expected which should come from Calicut, Cochin, and other places in India, to Alexandria or Beyrout , and later come to Venice, and in this place become monopolized, whence all the world comes to buy such spicery and carry gold, silver, and every other merchandise, with which money the war is sustained; today, with this new voyage by the King of Portugal, all the spices which came by way of Cairo will be controlled in Portugal, because of the caravels which will go to India, to Calicut, and other places to take them. And in this way the Venetians will not be able to take spices either in Alexandria or Beyrout”.[xxxviii]

St ANGELO FORT MOBILIZED.

After da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to Calicut, the Portuguese were mainly concentrating on the trade with Malabar. The Portuguese later found that the northern region of Gujarat was very important for trade. Guajaratis, an essential intermediary in east–west trade, were bringing spices from the Moluccas as well as silk from China  and then selling them to the Egyptians and Arabs.[xxxix]  The Portuguese decided to expand their activities to the Gujarat region to monopolize the trade in the Indian Ocean.  As has been pointed out earlier St. Angelo's Fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India and it is the first fortress of Portuguese in India on the Arabian Sea coast about 2 km from Kannur town.[xl]   This is confirmed by the statement of Varthema. “While still seeking a way to cut himself adrift from the Muhammadans, some of Francisco d’ Almeida’s ships arrive from Portugal at Cananore showing that the date is now about September, 1505.”[xli]  The credit goes to Vasco da Gama for choosing Cannanore as a good site for a fort.  But he could not construct a fort but erected a stockade which was “a little more than a fence to keep out incendiaries.”[xlii] Pedro Alvares Cabral left Gonçalo Gomes Ferreira at Cannanore as the factor in 1501 and laid the foundation for a factory there [xliii] . Then Pai Rodrigues the factor of Alvaro who came to Malabar in the fleet of João da Nova in 1501 remained at Cannanore till the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1502[xliv].  After having concluded peace with the king of Cannanore, Vasco da Gama established the factory there in 1503.,[xlv]   He also appointed Gonçalo Gil Barbosa ,  Sebastião Alvares and Diogo Alvares as copyists as well as a group of twenty men were put in charge[xlvi] Almeida gave the charge of the fort to Lorenzo de Brito and left at the fort one hundred and fifty men to assist Brito.  They constructed it initially as a makeshift fortress which consisted of little more than a wall across a promontory.  Unlike the Cochin fort which was the first European fort in India, built with great pomp in 1503 by Albuquerque, Cannanore fort, in the beginning, served only as an impromptu, emergency fort.  From the earliest days the Portuguese had had friendly relationships with the Kolattri Rajah. After the unforeseen developments in Kollam, Almeida felt the urgent necessity of having a fort at Cannanore.  As  Jerome Osorio says: “ Almeida now resolved to build a fort at Cananor; he was strongly urged thereto by Gonzalo Agido Barbosa, who said that the king himself, though ever so willing, was not able to defend  the Portuguese against the artifices of the perfidious Arabians: the viceroy accordingly determined not  to depart till the fort was finished.”[xlvii]  Along with the hostile Muslims on land, the Portuguese had to deal with pirates and sundry other marauders on the coast. And therefore Almeida got the permission of the Kolathiri and the construction of Fort Angelo was successfully completed in 1505.[xlviii]  As Duarte Barbosa says, The Viceroy, F. D'Almeida, having .obtained the Raja's permission, began to dig moats in 1505. The fort, however, was not finished till 1507, when the Viceroy, as Correa tells us, gave it the name of Santao gil, after the castle of St. Angelo at Rome (Correa, 1, pp 583 and 728.)

In this context, the difference between fort and factory is to be clarified to dispel misapprehension.  The first Portuguese factory in Asia was set up  in Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal spice entrepot on the Malabar Coast of India in September 1500, but it was overrun in a riot a couple of months later. Consequently, the first lasting factory was set up in the nearby smaller city of Cochin (Cochim, Kochi) in late 1500. This was followed up by factories in Cannanore  (Canonor, Kannur) (1502) and Quilon (Coulão, Kollam) (1503).

Although some Portuguese factories were defended by palisades that eventually evolved into Portuguese forts garrisoned by Portuguese troops (e.g. Fort Manuel was erected around the Cochin factory in 1503 Fort Sant’ Angelo around the Cannanore factory in 1505), some remained merely as factories.. The two concepts are distinct. Factories were commercial outposts, not political, administrative or military. The factor was formally an employee of the Casa da Índia (the trading house), not an officer of the Estado da Índia (the colonial government).

St. Angelo Fort

Cannanore fort was also used by Almeida’s son Lourenco Almeida to patrol the Malabar Coast.  Acting under his father, Lourenço distinguished himself in the Indian Ocean, and made Ceylon (present Sri Lanka) tributary to Portugal.. The Zamorin could not stomach the growing power and wealth of his subordinate Kolathiri with the help of the Portuguese. So he was assiduously planning to attack the Portuguese. The Zamorin’s fleet, consisting of about 200 ships equipped with cannons manufactured with the help of two Milanese Italians, was manned by native, Arab and Turkish crews. Ottoman Empire soldiers were also participating on the Zamorin’s side.[xlix]. Lourenço de Almeida intercepted Zamorin's fleet in a sea battle at the entrance to the harbour of Cannanore, (the Battle of Cannanore) and inflicted heavy loss. Laurenco took position at the extreme end of St. Angelo’s fort. A canon was fixed on the wall to shell continuously on the Zamorin’s forces and the moors. The combined fleet of the Zamorin was no match against the superior Portuguese naval and cannon technology. Laurenco won a decisive victory over the combined forces.  In gratitude to Nossa Senhora (Our Lady) and also to commemorate this great victory, the Portuguese built a chapel in the end of the fort of St Angelo and it was named Chapel of Our Lady of Victory.[l]   Varthema was probably in Malabar at that time and he says; “ a large fleet of ‘Moors’ belonging to the Zamorin of Calicut and the Sultan of Kansuh al-Ghori of Cairo, which had arrived off the west coast of India with the object of preventing the Portuguese from interfering with Arab trade of India. The fight, he says, took place on 16 March 1506, the Portuguese commander being Dom Laurenco d’ Almeida, and was successful.”[li]  The Battle of Cannanore, although took place in the remote corner of India, is hailed as a turning point in world history. As Mizra says: “The Battle of Cannanore marks the beginning of small maritime nations like Portugal, Holland and England dominating the globe with naval power. This domination only ended with the advent of air power after the Second World War.  England became the largest global empire before the Americans because sea power was more far reaching than land armies. The Americans became the largest global empire because air power can reach even further.”[lii].

 While Almeida was at Cannanore , he was surprised to see a delegation  of Vira Narasimha of Vijayanagar expressing their desire to meet him.  Castanheda gives a complete description of the proceedings. The embassy was received on board the personal ship of the viceroy. This was done so as the Portuguese could retain the advantage in case of a surprise attack. As soon as the envoy approached the ship, a gunnery salute in his honour was fired. Unused to such artillery, the embassy was taken aback. They had arrived with a retinue of trumpeters and drum-beaters who served as a herald. After assuming a seat worthy of his position, the envoy congratulated the Portuguese on their recent victory over Calicut.[liii]  Vijayanagar was the most powerful Empire in South India.  Italian traveler Niccolo de Conti who visited Vijaya Nagar Empire about CE1420, writes: “….. The King is powerful than all the other kings of India.”[liv]  The Portuguese were also eager to have commercial ties with this Hindu kingdom because Vijayanagar was frequently attacked by Muslim Sultans of the region. Osorio narrates: “ The ambassador was received with the highest marks of honour, and after having produced his credentials, delivered the purport of his embassy as follows, ‘That his royal master being filled with admiration at the fame and reputation of Emmanuel, was therefore extremely desirous of entering into a league with so great and worthy a prince: that the exploits performed by the Portuguese in India was to him a sufficient testimony of what was reported by fame; for he could not doubt but that the king who ruled over so many brave subjects, must be a prince endowed with greatest accomplishments, and his friendship worthy to be cultivated by the most powerful monarchs: that he would therefore most willingly make a treaty of friendship with his Portuguese majesty, and would strive to the utmost, to promote his honour and dignity. Moreover, if it was not disagreeable, he should be extremely glad to betroth his only daughter, a virgin of reputed beauty, with a considerable dowry, to John the son of Emmanuel that their friendship might be more strengthened by such an alliance.[lv]. In addition, King Narasimha agreed to furnish them with all the materials necessary for construction. These terms were reiterated in a letter meant for the King Emmanuel. The ambassador gave Almeida some precious gifts which included ‘a couple of bracelets studded with the brightest gems, together with a parcel of rings set with the finest diamonds.’ Almeida gave a letter to king Narasimha assuring him ‘that he would do everything in his power to promote the strictest and most sincere friendship ‘between the two rulers.”[lvi]

Osorio gives graphic description of the events at Canannore. He says: “After the departure of Narsinguan embassador, Almeed went ashore in a long boat; and he ordered a tent to be pitched in a grove of palm trees, whence the king of Cananor visited him. After a deal of friendly conversation, the viceroy asked leave of his majesty to build a fort: this (he said) would not only defend the Portuguese against Arabians, but would also be a bulwark for himself against the invasion of his enemies. His request was already granted; and the work being set about with great expedition, was in a few days brought to its full height. Egido Barbosa had, indeed, before laid the foundation, but he gave out only intended to build a house for the convenience of the Portuguese merchants. This caution he thought extremely necessary, till Almeed should, in a formal manner, obtain liberty from the king for building a fort.”[lvii]  

. Portuguese historian  Barros says, “Upon the completion of Fort Sant' Angelo of Cannanore, Almeida hands it over to the captain pre-designated originally for Quilon, D. Lourenço de Brito (a high noble, apparently a cup-bearer of King Manuel I), and a new factor Lopo Cabreira (replacing the long-serving Gonçalo Gil Barbosa) and a certain Castillian nobleman known as 'Guadalajara' as magistrate (alcaide-mor) of Cannanore.^[3  Almeida leaves Brito with a garrison of 150 men and two patrol ships, the navetas of Rodrigo Rabello (São Miguel?) and Fernão Bermudez.”[lviii] At first this was limited to leaving goods and merchants at the settlement.  “The walls of the Cochin fort were made of double rows of coconut stems securely fastened together and with earth rammed firmly between; it was further protected by a wet ditch. Thus was founded the first European fort in India, for the stockade already erected at Cananore appears to have been little more than a fence to keep out incendiaries.”[lix]   This was probably soon replaced by stone. The site was built onto a rocky outcrop and the underlying rock of very soft red ironstone like material that hardened after exposure to air. Using St. Angelo fort, the Portuguese moved. southwards and succeeded in establishing a long loosely linked chain of seaport fortresses and trading posts like Onor, Barcelor, Mangalore, Cranganor, Cochin, and Quilon. The Naval Battle of Diu,   one of the most celebrated in the history of the Portuguese Navy, was a decisive battle of decimation, where Gujarat had to lose all its naval power. Almeida burned and pillaged their ports and smashed the combined fleets of the Sultans of Egypt, Gujarat and the Zamorin of Calicut.

Meanwhile, political developments in Malabar placed the Portuguese in a complicated situation. The friendly Kolathiri Raja died and this paved the way for the Zamorin to intervene in the succession feud in Koalthiri’s family.  As Varthema narrates: “… the old friendly “King of Canannor” had died and was succeeded by “a great enemy of ours” and an ally of an inimical Zamorin.”[lx]  In Malabar the Portuguese exercised a strong control over the coastal area through their dummy rajas, but none at all inland. So they introduced the pass system known as cartaz to monitor and control maritime trade. As Peterson says: “The Portuguese had armed vessels plying in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Ships carrying commodities which were not given passes (cartaz) by the Portuguese officials were confiscated by them. The booty, thus confiscated yielded a sizeable source of income, which was again invested in trade.”[lxi]. When the Portuguese powers reached its zenith in Malabar Coast, it enforced passes for native and other vessels to show their authority and to control maritime trade in the region.  Barros attempts to justify this practice of the Portuguese of intercepting all ships sailing without their passport, and says, “As to navigation, the power of our fleets was always so great in those eastern parts, that as we were masters of its seas, whoever wished to navigate, whether Gentile or Moor, in order to do so securely and peacefully, asked for a safe-conduct from our captains out there, which they commonly call Cartaz.”[lxii]

 Till now the Kolathiri was a submissive Raja, but rivalry in the royal family led to the succession of a king with the active intervention and help of the Zamorin.  The Zamorin used this opportunity to get the support of the new ruler to fight the Portuguese. He sent a Brahmin to meet the new king and through him he instigated him to get rid of the Portuguese.    To make the situation worse, the cartaz system of the Portuguese made the new king a bitter enemy of the Portuguese. Jerome . Ossorio  says: “The king of Cananor now applied himself with the utmost vigour in making preparations against our people: however, for some time he thought it necessary to keep the design secret. He ordered a broad trench to be thrown up from shore to shore. This separated the city from the fort, stretching on a point of land washed by the sea. This he pretended as a fortification for the city, without any design against the Portuguese. At a little distance from the fort there was a well, which used to supply the garrison with water. The king intended, if possible, to deprive the Portuguese of this convenience. There was a narrow path from the trench to the well, which he intended to fortify in such a manner, as to cut off all communication which our people had to the well, that he might by this means destroy them by thirst.”[lxiii]

It was at this time when tension was mounting between the Portuguese and the king of Cannanore that Gonzalo Vaz captured a ship near Cannanore with passes, which he claimed to be forged, plundered the ship and then had murdered the crew who were sewn up into a sail and cast into the water. The bodies had floated ashore and included those of the son in law of Mammali Marakkar one of the most important local merchants. After confronting Lorenzo de Brito to demand recompense, receiving an unsatisfactory reponse the merchant went to the Kolattiri Rajah with many supporters and the Rajah agreed to go to war with the Portuguese. The Siege of Cannanore was a four-month  seige, from April to August 1507, when troops of the Kolattiri Raja of , supported by the Zamorin  of  Calicut and Arabs, besieged the Portuguese garrison at  St. Angelo Fort  in  Cannanore. The firepower of the garrison under Lourenço de Brito allowed it to repulse massive attacks involving thousands of men.[lxiv]  From the 27th April 1507 the fort came under siege. .Fierce attacks  were made by both sides, and it was at this point that it dawned upon the Portuguese that the builders of the fort had made a major mistake by having the  only well  situated only a" bow shot" from the wall on the enemy side of the walls. Every time the Portuguese needed to draw water they had to take great risk to their lives. . This grave problem was solved when “Fernandez, an engineer, hit upon the expedient of mining a passage as far as the well and so drawing off the supply underground.”[lxv]    The Portuguese had to face the impact of a powerful attack from the Kolathiri, assisted by the Zamorin and the Moors. As Logan puts it: “He (Kolathiri) obtained twenty-one pieces of cannon from the Zamorin, all communication between the town and fort was cut off by a trench, and forty thousand Nayars were entertained to besiege the place, and the Zamorin subsequently sent twenty thousand more to assist.”[lxvi]   To make matters worse, another unfortunate event occurred which deprived the entrenched Portuguese their daily provision of food. Jerónimo Osório, narrates in his book written in Latin, The history of the Portuguese, during the reign of Emmanuel, an unexpected accident:  “There was a row of houses adjoining to the fort, by which they were protected from the enemy; there were mostly warehouses; some of which were filled with provisions for the support of the garrisons. By the carelessness of a boy, who having fallen asleep, left a lighted candle, one of those houses were set a fire. The flames spread quickly to the adjoining houses; which being built of wood, and thatched with palm leaves, were soon burnt to the ground. By this fire our people lost many valuable effects, but nothing affected them so much as their want of provisions, most of which were destroyed; and as it was then the winter season, they had no hopes of getting a supply. In short they were at last so afflicted by famine, that they were obliged to live upon cats, mice and lizards.”[lxvii]  To add to their misery, the Kolathiri had  staked and fenced the trenches with cotton bales to protect them from Portuguese cannon fire.  To counter this, “the Portuguese planted a large piece of ordnance on their ramparts, and lucky shot from it , it is said, sent the cotton bales flying and killed no less than twenty-two men.”  
Miracle at St. Angelo
Although Portuguese king has sent Tristão da Cunha with a fleet of 15 ships to India, he could not reach Cannanore on time to relieve the starving Portuguese inside the fort as he was engaged in a battle at Socotra.  The situation inside the fort during this period was becoming extremely calamitous. A large part of the garrison remained wounded and they were being gradually forced into starvation. It was at this grievous stage, a miracle happened to the praying and trapped sailors on 15 August, St. Mary’s Day. They were surprised to see a tidal wave washing ashore large quantities of lobsters and prawns. As Catenhada says with great relief: “… in the day of our Lady Dagosto began to wake up to the sea, very high, and the sea sent to the sea, and to the sea, the great crowd of lobsters that caught them, giving great praise to our lord his glorious mother, through whose intercession it seemed that he gave those lobsters For his sustenance with them all, the spirit will be leavened to him, and the captain will soon read of them to the sick who are in the spiritist, with whom they will, as a matter of course, begin to wear well, if they remain ten or twelve days well.”[lxviii].  It was indeed a miracle to get lobsters and prawns for the starving Portuguese. It was certainly  a special treat for the starving Portuguese at the fort to get  from the sea huge numbers of lobsters and prawns. They not merely relished the mouthwatering fresh lobsters, they also salted the excessive supply from the sea for future use.   Lobsters and prawns are expensive Portuguese cuisine even today at top-notch sea food restaurants in Lisbon..

 Portuguese style Lobster dish 

The Portuguese garrison was on the verge of being overwhelmed and they had lost hope of any means of escape.  As Diffie says, “Beleaguered and battered, the Europeans were awaiting a final assault.” And again the trapped Portuguese had a miraculous liberation   when on 27 August a fleet of 11 ships under Tristão da Cunha, the 8th Armada, coming from Socotra, appeared. The fleet landed 300 Portuguese soldiers, forced the lifting of the siege and relieved the fortress. “The Kolathiri then sued for peace, which was granted on terms advantageous to the Portuguese.”[lxix]

The aim of Portugal in the Indian Ocean was to ensure the monopoly of the spice trade. New technology was used to build a   ship with triangular sails. It was called the caravel, an ocean-going version of smaller fishing boats. The caravel revolutionized exploration.  St. Angelo fort played a key role in strengthening Portuguese position in Kerala and Gujarat. With this chain of fortified ports of call, and with no vessels in the Indian Ocean capable of challenging her power at sea, Portugal enjoyed a monopoly of the eastern spice trade. After the victorious sea Battle of Diu, Turks and Egyptians withdrew their navies from India and the Zamorin razed to the ground, setting the Portuguese trade dominance for almost a century, and greatly contributing to the growth of the Portuguese Empire. It also marked the beginning of the European colonial dominance in Asia.

One important fact that many historians have overlooked is the dominant role played by St. Angelo fort in the Portuguese commercial expansion in the 15^th century. After establishing naval supremacy, the Portuguese came to make larger and larger profits from the Asian interport trade, which they controlled through a system of licensed, unlicensed local traders being liable to arrest and confiscation. In this way, much of the spices came to be paid for in Coromandel cloth from the Indian coast: Arabian horses, African gold and ivory, Chinese and Japanese bullion were carried the relatively short and safe distances from one oriental entrepôt to another: Ormuz to Goa, Cochin to Colombo, Macao to Nagasaki. Until the late 16th century St. Angelo fort remained an advanced frontier post for the Portuguese commercial expansion.

---

[i] Amaral, Luciano. “Economic History of Portugal”. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. March 16, 2008

[ii]    Towle George M, The Voyages and Adventures of Vasco Da Gama, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1878, p.227.

[iii] ibid

[iv] ibid

[v] Logan, William, The Malabar Manual,Government Press, Madras, 1887, p.299

[vi] Ibid, p.300.

[vii] Towle, op.cit., p.228

[viii] Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia, Vol.I, Porto, 1975,pp.114-115.

[ix] Towle, op.cit.,

[x] Woodcock,George, Kerala,Faber And Faber, London, 1967

[xi] Panikkar, K.M. A History of Kerala, The Annamalai Universiry, Annamalainagar, 1959, p.33

[xii] Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization: The Age of Reason, Vol.VII, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1961.

[xiii] Towle, George M, op.cit ,p.7

[xiv] Panikkar, KM. op.cit.p201

[xv] Café Dissensus on February 15, 2016, https://cafedissensus.com/2016/02/15/four-hundred-years-of-a-letter-calicut-english-relations/

[xvi]  Panikkar, K.M. op.cit. p.141

[xvii] Diffey, Bailey W, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580, University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota, 1977, p. 254.

[xviii] Anderson, Perry, Portugal and the end of ultra Colonialism,p.91 http://www.strongwindpress.com/pdfs/tuijian/perryandersonportugal.pdf

[xix] Mitchell, Mary Ames, Crossing the Ocean Sea, http://www.crossingtheoceansea.com/OceanSeaPages/OS-78-Cabral.html

[xx] Greenlee, William Brooks (1995). The voyage of Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil and India: from contemporary documents and narratives. New Delhi: J. Jetley,.pp. xxiv, xxxiii.

[xxi] Lane, Frderic Chapin, Venice, A Maritime Republic, J.H.U.Press, Rediff, 1973, p.52.

[xxii] Houtsma, M.Th.,  E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936, p.720ff.

[xxiii] Peters, Francis.E, Mecca: a literary history of the Muslim Holy Land, p.176ff.

[xxiv] Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia, Vol.I, Porto, 1975,pp.167-168.

[xxv] Cronica da Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, Coimbra, 1974, p.25

[xxvi] Thomé Lopes, “Navegação as Índias Orientaes” in Collecção de Noticias para a Historia e Geografia das Nações Uitramarinas que vivem nos Dominos Portugueses, ou lhes são Visinhas, tom.II, No.1 & 2, Lisbon, 1812,p. 187.

[xxvii] Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque, tom. II, p.400; Simão Botelho, “Tombo do Estado da India” in Subsidios para a Historia de India Portugueze, Lisbon, 1868, p.28. The three orders and one receipt, written in Cannanore on 22 and 23 February, signed by Vasco da Gama, are the more ancient documents written by the Portuguese in India. Carlos Alexandre de Morais, Cronológia Geral da Índia Portuguesa, Sociedade de Geografia, Lisboa, 1997, p23.

[xxviii] João de Barros,    Decadas da Ásia,  Nova Ediçao. (Lisboa 1778-1788),,pp.74-75 Digitized: New York Public Library                                                                                               

[xxx] ibid 

[xxxi] ibid, p.306

[xxxii] Ibid.

[xxxiii] Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia (Lisbon, 1858), vol. I, p. 298.

[xxxiv] João de Barros, Década I, book VI, pp.74-75.

[xxxv] Foundations of the Portuguese Empire: 1415-1580 by Bailey Bailey Wallys Diffie, George George Davison Winius (University of Minnesota, 1977).

[xxxvi] Snell, Melissa, http://www.about.com/education/ 1911, Encyclopaedia.

[xxxvii]  History Today, vol. 65, Issue 10 October 2015.

[xxxviii] Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume I: The Century of Discovery, Volume 1 by Donald F. Lach (University of Chicago, 1965).

[xxxix] Bailey Wallys Diffie, ,Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415–1580  University of Minnesota, 1977, p.230ff

[xl] Neto, Ricardo Bonalume (2002-04-01). "Lightning rod of Portuguese India". MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History (Cowles Enthusiast Media Spring). 

[xli] Jones, John Winter, The Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1997, p.ixxix.

[xlii] Logan, op.cit., p. 308

[xliii] Cronica da Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, Coimbra, 1974, p.25

[xliv] Thomé Lopes, “Navegação as Índias Orientaes” in Collecção de Noticias para a Historia e Geografia das Nações

itramarinas que vivem nos Dominos Portugueses, ou lhes são Visinhas, tom.II, No.1 & 2, Lisbon, 1812,p. 187.

[xlv] Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque, tom. II, p.400; Simão Botelho, “Tombo do Estado da India” in Subsidios para a Historia de India Portugueze, Lisbon, 1868, p.28. The three orders and one receipt, written in Cannanore on 22 and 23 February, signed by Vasco da Gama, are the more ancient documents written by the Portuguese in India. Carlos Alexandre de Morais, Cronológia Geral da Índia Portuguesa, Sociedade de Geografia, Lisboa, 1997, p23.

[xlvi] João de Barros, Ásia,Vol.I -VI, Lisbon,1988-1992, pp.74-75.

[xlvii] Osorio, Jerome, The History of the Portuguese During the Reign of Emmanuel, A.Millar,in the Strand,  London, MDCCLII, p.240

[xlviii] Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque, tomo. II, P.400-402 (Letter from the King of Cannanore to King Manuel I, dated 6 December 1507.

[xlix] Bouchon, Genevieve, Regent of the Sea: Cannanore’s Response to Portuguese Expansion,1507-1528, Oxfore University Presse, Delhi, 1988

[l] Antónia da Silva Rêgo, Documentação para Historia das Missões do Padroado Português do Oriente,Índia, Vol.I (1499-1522),Lisboa,1947,p.321.

[li]  Jones, John Winter,The Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1997, p.IXXXI

[lii] Mizra, Rocky M. How the West was Won and Lost, Trafford  Publishing, www.trafford.com.

[liii] Fernao Lopes de Castanheda, Historia de Descobrimentos e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, cited in GOA-KANARA PORTUGUESE RELATIONS 1498-1763, Charles J. Borges (ed.),cited by Shastry, Bhagamandala Seetharama

Xavier Centre of Historical Research, 2000, p.58

[liv] Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture, John Stewart Bowman,  Columbia University Press, New York, 2013, p.271,

[lv] Osorio, op.cit., p.243

[lvi] Ibid.,

[lvii] Ibid.,p.244

[lviii] João de Barros (1552–59) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente.. [Dec. I, Lib 7.]

[lix] Logan, op.cit., p. 308

[lx] Jones, John Winter, The Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1997, p. IXXX!.

[lxi] Pearson M.N., The Portuguese in India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p.46.

[lxii] "The three voyages of Vasco de Gama, and his HYPERLINK "https://archive.org/details/voyageroundworld01tayl"viceroyalty :HYPERLINK "https://archive.org/details/voyageroundworld01tayl" from the Lendas da India of Gaspar Corrêa. Burt Franklin, Publisher, New York.

[lxiii] Osorio, Jerome, op.cit, p.263.

[lxiv] Logan, op.cit, 314ff

[lxv] ibid, p.314.

[lxvi] Ibid.,p.313

[lxvii] The History of the Portuguese During the Reign of Emmanuel. , written originally in Latin by Jerome Ossorio, translated by James Gibbs A. Millar, London. MDCCLII(1752). . Brandeis University Libraries, p.267.

[lxviii] Castanheda, Fernão Lopes de, Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, Volume 2, Typographia Rollandiana, 1833

[lxix] Diffie, Bailey Wallys, Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580, p. 233