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Thank you Luit Paran Baishya for the A2A ! Warning ...... Long read ahead. Stay on only if you are a history buff. The pictures are purely representational and may not be connected with the real incident just like this real mean Mom ! Don’t mess with her ! She’s Meenakshi Raghavan the Kalari martial arts Guru !To begin with a brief history of Mysore, Travancore and Malabar in about the couple of centuries upto the late 1700s. Only those relevant to the incidents that culminated in the Mysore Travancore War of 1789-90.History of Mysore is easily available and more or less should be correct and hence I will be brief with it. Mysore had a nominal king, the Wodeyars. But it was governed by their military commander Hyder Ali and later by his son, Tipu. They were the defacto rulers while the Wodeyars were more or less prisoners in their own palace. It was just a matter of time before Wodeyars were deposed off and Tipu or his sons became the real rulers. As a matter of fact, Tipu called himself Tipu Sultan which is sort of weird considering that he also claimed to be governing on the behalf of Wodeyars. But that was a sign of the bleak future for the Wodeyars if Tipu had not been killed in the final seige of Srirangapatnam in 1799.Next about the Travancore Kingdom. The Travancore kingdom expanded from being small village on the Kerala -Tamil Nadu border to span the whole southern half of Kerala and Kanyakumari District of TN. It was probably one of the wealthiest and the only developed kingdoms in India despite the small size due to the trade in spices and being on a busy trading sea route and the educational initiatives of the rulers as well as the christian missionaries.This map will be a useful reference for the incidents that follow:It all began with the marriage of a Prince from the Thiruvitamkode (anglicized to Travancore) royal family to the princess of Venad in 1600s subsequent to a battle between the two kingdoms or better called chiefdoms that resulted in a stalemate. This stalemate was equivalent to a defeat for Venad since Venad was supposed to be more powerful and had vaster territories than Travancore. But there was a cultural issue which had a great impact in the next generation. The house of Travancore followed a patrilineal form of inheritance in common with the Tamil people of the South as well as the earlier royalties of Cheras, Pandyas etc while the house of Venad based at Attingal in Trivandrum Distict in South Kerala followed the matrilineal inheritance common to the newly emerged Nair community. The house of Venad was actually the former Ay Kingdom which was usurped strategically by the House of Kolothunad of Northern most Kerala who had sent their two princesses a generation back along with a big army of Nairs to assist the Ay rulers of Venad against their enemies. The princesses married the princes of Ay family. The supremacy of the Northern Nairs over the opponents of Ay rulers who probably were the ancestors of Travancore family ensured that they could influence the Ay rulers to change from Patrilineal inheritance to Matrilineal inheritance of the Nairs. This also led to influence of the syncretic language born of Kerala Tamil, Tulu and Sanskrit called Malayalam on the South Chera Tamil spoken in Southern Kerala.In the aftermath of the later war between Venad and their old opponent Travancore, Travancore may have won the battle and avenged their earlier defeat but Venad played the old game. They proposed that the Travancore prince marry the young princess of Venad as a compromise settlement. It actually benefited Venad as the progeny from this alliance would still be the rulers of Venad and Travancore combined. Also the Venad princess still stayed at Attingal their capital and did not move to Travancore. The patrilineal Travancore also didn’t have any issues with the arrangement since the progeny of the prince would be the ruler of two kingdoms and it was considered a privilege to marry into the more sophisticated or more renown house of Venad, the direct successors of the once great Ay Chera Kingdom.Family temple of Travancore Royalty at Attingal - Tiru Arattukavu TempleBut at that time no one realised that seeds of a great dispute was sown which was to result in formation of a new and powerful kingdom.In the next generation, the Rama Varma, the son of the Attingal princess and the Patrilineal Travancore prince became the ruler. He shifted to his father’s residence and ruled from there. He also happened to marry the daughter of a supposedly Rajput noble who was on pilgrimage to Rameswaram having two sons out of the union.Back in the Venad hometown, his sister’s son Marthanda Varma was expected to be his successor as per the rules of matrilineal Venad. While Rama Varma wanted his eldest son to succeed him following the patrilineal inheritance of Travancore. This led to a bloody war involving nobles supporting both sides. It ended in Marthanda Varma vanquishing and killing his cousins. The bloody war made Marthanda Varma a ruthless ruler and made him more ambitious. He went further and conquered all the neighboring kingdoms, beat the Portuguese and the Dutch. His army was made of fighting men from all castes and the incentive of being upgraded to the noble Nair community as recognition of their courage and achievements was quite an incentive. It was almost equivalent to the knighthood conferred by the British Royalty. It may come as a surprise to many Nairs of Trivandrum but the fact is that many of them have a non-Nair ancestry but they can rest assured that they did have courageous warriors as ancestors whose exceptional achievement earned them this status.Marthanda Varma’s commander was the surrendered Dutch Captian DeLennoy who was instructed to train the Travancore army on the lines of the modern European army. DeLennoy who admired Varma and remained local to him to his death not just combined the Western discipline and the martial skills of the Varma’s army, He trained them in that period’s firearms. Varma also focused on developing the territories under him economically, promoting cash crops and expanding agriculture, building roads and waterways which helped both movement of army as well as traders. This laid the foundations of the economic prosperity of Southern Kerala.This was continued by his successor, again his sister’s son, Balarama Varma. Balarama Varma, from his young age had been accompanying his uncle on war expeditions and helping with the administrative activities.Balarama Varma continued the expansion of Travancore and extracted tribute from the Cochin rulers. On their request his army fought and successfully defeated the Samuthiri(Zamorin) the ruler of Eranad who had his capital at Calicut (Kozhikode). The Samuthiri’s army was near totally destroyed by the better armed and better trained Travancore army. Such was the loss of his best fighting men that Samuthiri never recovered militarily and was vanquished by Hyder Ali of Mysore almost without a fight.This brings us to the Tragic history of Malabar and it’s rulers, the Samuthiris also called Zamorins by western historians.Samuthiri means the lord of the seas (Samudra). The title given to the young and ambitious Nair warrior from the village of Ernad by the Nambuthiri brahmins who crowed him the King of Calicut. The young warrior had in the late 14th century captured the lands around his little village and expanded it into a kingdom. His capture of Calicut, a leading trading center was the highlight as it made his successors one of the wealthiest rulers on the west coast. His successors were also called Samuthiris or Zamorins.The trade with the Arabs, Chinese and other nations may have made Samuthiri wealthy but he remained a humble villager of Eranad. Which was why Vasco De Gama and the Portuguese got all screwed up. Seeing the half naked Zamorin who dressed no different from the common men of his country, he thought he was dealing with another of the uncivilized tribal chiefs encountered in the lands between Europe and the western coast of India. He expected Zamorin to be impressed by the flamboyant Portuguese and their gift of coloured beads, clothes and cheap utensils. Zamorins never display their wealth and considered these cheap gifts as insulting and as mark of dis-respectfulness towards his superiority as a King. For him even Gama was just a common trader from the west.This and the highhandedness of the Portuguese sailors with the natives immediately after their un-boarding their ships turned the Zamorin against the Europeans. It didn’t help that the leading Traders of Calicut professing Islam as religion influenced his advisers against the Portuguese. He asked Gama to leave immediately and Gama left. But the Portuguese return a year later and bombarded Calicut. This makes Zamorin more angry and he swore to avenge them. He and his successors spend the rest of their lives waging wars against the Portuguese such that Portuguese could never establish themselves in Kerala like they did in Goa and the Konkan coast.The kings of Cochin who were shrewd rulers invited the Portuguese to establish trading posts in Cochin. They looked forward to profiting from this arrangement.This invited the wrath of the Zamorin who lead various expeditions to Cochin to throw out the Portuguese. The Cochin rulers never got involved in the battles. They looked on as Portuguese and Zamorin fought each other. Always waiting to see who is the winning side to join them. And it was always the Portuguese. The poorly armed soldiers of Zamorin was no match for the modern firearms and cannons of the Portuguese. But all these battles weakened the Portuguese and took away their morale. And when the dutch challenged them, they seemed willing to give up and just leave.The equally weakened Zamorin went home and spent some peaceful years to revive and consolidate their territories. Even though Zamorin had lost his battles with the Portuguese, he had managed keep them away from further interfering in the region. But during the period of his battles, many of his tributaries, the local chiefs proclaimed themselves independent and stopped paying taxes. This included the Valluvanad king (present Malappuram dist with Shornur and Pattambi Taluks of Palakkad) and the King (Achan) of Palakkad.An angered Zamorin build up his depleted army by recruiting Mopla Muslims also in large numbers. He was determined that non of his former tributaries dare revolt again. In the first phase, he attacked Valluvanad viciously and destroyed the properties of the Nair Nobles of Valluvanad forcing many to flee south. And to ensure that they did not return back, he gave their properties to the Mopla muslims and settled them in large numbers in Valluvanad. Most of the coastal Moplas who were fishermen or sailors soon migrated to Valluvanad and settled down in the lands previously under the former Nair landlords. It is actually Zamorin who has to be credited with the high population of the muslim community in present Malappuram district. Valluvanad King soon succumbed to the pressure due to lack of fighting men and surrendered and accepted Zamorin’s terms. The Palakkad ruler did not even attempt to fight Zamorin and accepted his overlordship readily. Zamorin was not the good old Eradi who was generous to his enemies. He had acquired some of the characteristics of his Mopla subjects in terms of ruthlessness and also he became wary of future rebellions. All of these happened in the period of another century the 17th.All these victories gave a boost to the Zamorins and he decided to move his army towards Cochin .Zamorin had already realised the treachery of the Cochin rulers and planned to avenge it. Cochin was weak militarily and survived somehow by the some clever strategies, paying tributes, acting friendly etc. It was already the 17 the century. In the southern part of Kerala, a small chiefdom had become a kingdom and was expanding aggressively. And in the North, Zamorin had recovered and moved south aggressively. Zamorin no long showed any interest in the offers of Tributes by the Cochin rulers and wanted their territories for himself.Torn between two strong contenders for their territory, Cochin played smart again. They learned that Travancore was much more stronger militarily than Zamorin and they were commanded by a Dutch man, De Lennoy. Cochin approached Travancore for help against Zamorin and agreed to part with some of their territories and ceded some trading rights to Travancore.Travancore Army met Zamorin’s army north of Cochin, near Irinjalakuda, a temple town in Trichur district of Kerala. Zamorin’s army was no match for the professional soldiers of Travancore and were destroyed. Irinjalakuda was captured back. The Temple was given as a gift to an outstanding Nair Soldier of Travancore. Zamorin was chased out of Trichur town also and he fled northwards to Chettuva a small fishing village near Guruvayur. The Tranvacore army was determined to see the last of the war and Zamorin knew he had miscalculated and underestimated the cunningness of the Cochin rulers. He knew unless he surrendered to Travancore he will lose his entire territories. Soon terms of surrender was negotiated and Zamorin gave back all the captured lands and some more and swore never to cross south of the river Nila.Irinjalakuda Kudalmanikya Temple. Mostly likely a converted Budhist Vihara. There is only one diety in the temple. A rarity in Kerala Temples.But Zamorin had lost more than just that. He lost his best men in the battle. His old fashioned army majorly was made of stubborn Nairs who preferred to die than withdraw from a battle. And die they did in large numbers before the more disciplined Travancore Army which had the right mix of courageous and trained warriors and excellent strategy for each battle.It was an impossible task to rebuild an army for many years to come. Too many men had died to even procreate an able generation of future soldiers. No more warrior genes to be transferred. Matrilineal Nairs may survive with cohabitations of the females with Nambuthiri brahmins or whoever but the real warrior spirit which is infused in blood of the Nairs has almost disappeared. The Zamorin or Samuthiri is no more the king of Seas. He had grossly screwed up.Now back to the Mysorean Invasion of Kerala and it’s impact which will be dealt more briefly as it is still better known with some information though inaccurate is available in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_invasion_of_KeralaThe story begins with the invitation of King of Palakkad (The Achan or The father as he was known) to Hyder Ali, the then Foujdar of Dindigul in Mysore kingdom to attack the Zamorin, the traditional enemy of the Achans and whose overlordship he loathed. It was also to avenge the shameful surrender forced on them decades back by Zamorin. A weakened Zamorin was still mightier than the Palakkad kings.Hyder Ali’s army wreaks havoc in Malabar and forces Zamorin into a treaty. Zamorin was also financially ruined by this. Not modernising his armies has always been his bane. Loss of good men in the previous wars effected him badly. It was the sheer spirit of these men that bought him victories over his opponents.Near a decade later, Hyder attacks again on the request from the Muslim convert ruler of Kannur - The Ali Rajas. Zamorin was still the toothless tiger but none of the Malabar chieftains dared to face him. Coming down from Mangalore, Hyder easily squashed the resistance all the way along. The Zamorin send away his family members to Travancore to safety. And stayed back to face Hyder unsuccessfully. The Ali Raja’s men burnt down Zamorin’s palace with Zamorin himself preferring to perish in the fire.Hyder appointed a Governor to rule over Malabar and returned to Mysore. But immediately after the Mysore Army turned back, rebellions broke out everywhere in Malabar. Zamorin’s male family members returned back and they recaptured all the lost territories punishing all the traitors. Presence of a part of Mysorean army alone assured that Ali Rajas survived.But for Hyder’s son, Tipu, it was a great affront to the prestige of his dead father that the captured territories of Malabar were lost. He was determined to take revenge and the territories also back.Tipu was much more ambitious than his father and even more willful. But he was clever too. He realised that invading Malabar is of no use unless he could establish himself there. The whole cycle of winning the battles and later losing the captured territories as his father, Hyder Ali experienced should not be repeated. He planned a grand strategy for subjugation of Malabar with Calicut permanently. It was like this.1) To get the loyalty of the local Mopla Muslims using religion. Using them as a front or even as a backup during the war. They could do the dirty work of terrorizing the other folks in the name of Jihad or holy war.2) Inspire his own Muslim soldiers to put in a spirited fight in the name of Holy war Jihad against the idolaters and degenerates of Malabar. They would attain heaven ‘Jannat’ along with its sensual pleasures if killed in the battles.3) Offered high posts in his Army and Court to the Non-Muslim nobles of Malabar if they converted to Islam. They get to retain their properties and could be awarded with more.All these worked precisely like he expected. Huge numbers of non-Muslims especially those of the supposed higher castes were killed or converted. Their women raped and killed or kidnapped by the Moplas.(Moplas captured and arrested in a later Mopla revolts of 1922 by the British Police)Large numbers of people especially the higher castes migrated even further South to Travancore. Being the second time, it was to be permanently. No one would dare to take a third chance by returning.It was cakewalk for Tipu and his army. He himself was surprised at the speed with which he succeeded in this once dreaded lands. He looked forward to a similar ease in capturing Cochin and Travancore. He just need an opportunity. He sent emissaries to Cochin and Travancore seeking tributes. Actually asking them to pay him the cost of his campaign in Malabar which should sound absurd. But only to the Travancore King. The Cochin king agreed to do the best he could. Travancore King asked the emissaries to get lost to put it mildly. This was enough opportunity for Tipu to make war on Travancore. All the time during the campaigns of Hyder and Tipu, the Travancore had build a grand wall spanning more than 60 Kms deep inside Cochin Kingdom from the coastal Kottapuram near Kodungallur to the mountainous Western Ghats. Travancore was of course expecting guests. The lunch at Malabar was over, Tipu planned dinner at Trivandrum with the fried head of Raman Nair as he called Balarama Varma.The rest of it is better said in brief. Shall elaborate this in a separate answer on war strategies.Tipu banged his head on the Grand walls of Nedumkotta. His army of 25000 men were destroyed and he himself broke his leg while fleeing. Resulting in a limp and loss of his famous sword. He was lucky that the Travancore soldiers did not persue to capture him. They thought it was last of the invader and under estimated the unquenchable spirit of Tipu which no broken leg would break.Tipu returned again well prepared with standby armies in Palakkad and Coimbatore. It was not unexpected. The Diwan Kesava Pillai was prepared to receive him but not so soon. He was fought every step on the way. Tipu literally crawled or rather limped a long 5 months to cover some 100 KMs and reach the banks of Periyar River just a few Kilometers north of Cochin right in time for the monsoons. He lost all the fire not just literally but in real. His firearms which was the greatest strength of the Mysorean Army which could not be matched even by the Europeans failed him in the fury of the rains. Gunpowders, Cannons and Rockets were drenched and useless. His army was so dependent on them that they could not face the sword wielding Travancore army and the thousands of Volunteers. They perished nearly all of them. Tipu barely managed to make it back to Srirangapatnam. Maybe it was the curse of the Zamorin. And just like him, it was Travancore that weakened Tipu such that he never ever recovered. He was a lost man with a broken dream. A previously strong willed warrior, he started to have self doubts and took bad decisions which ended in his death during the last siege of Srirangapatnam.Travancore had won. A victory that was not digestible to most historians. A small kingdom beats a powerful emerging empire which was the future of Mysore and cripples it permanently. An history where the heroes are the common men led by the uncommon commander, Kesava Pillai who was honored as Raja Kesava Pillai by the British but he in his humility called himself a servant. Raja Kesava Das. He was the real Hero. The King Balarama Varma had died. He died of guilt because he had held back the valuable firearms and Canons at Trivandrum on the words of his petty kitchen advisers who feared that all of it would be needed when Tipu rings the bell at his door at Trivandrum. With none of these, Kesava Pillai proved that able leadership is the most powerful weapon to win a war. Tipu won battles in that war but Kesava Pillai won the war finally. He had a lot to lose.The fertile lands to the South of Cochin in the district of Alapuzha were created by him by dredging the vast uninhabitable swamps and cultivating paddy over the large areas of Kuttanad. He settled many families of all communities, the Nairs from Trivandrum, Kollam and the refugees from the Malabar, the traditional Christians of Kerala and various others in the new land which was now the rice basket of Travancore and even today’s Kerala. He had built the Harbour at Alapuzha and settled merchants from far, Gujaratis, Bohras, Labbai Muslims etc to engage in business making it a thriving trading centre. He wanted Alapuzha to outclass even Cochin. Lots of ships came and left from Alapuzha with merchandise. He built roads and waterways interconnecting the various trading centres in the kingdom. The spices and cash crops from the highlands reached the harbour in the shortest time on these roads. He built large number of schools to prepare the young for the future developments. And he could not afford to let even Tipu to destroy what he created so lovingly with so much effort and dedication. He was not a soldier by training or experience but he had a lot at stake. He could not just wait at Trivandrum like the king and the court did for Tipu to come rampaging down. He had to prevent the Mysoreans from entering the borders of Travancore at all costs. And he did. He stopped them far away in the lands of the Cochin Kingdom. If only Tipu knew what he was against, he would have tried a different approach.But unfortunately the later court intrigues ended in Kesava Pillai being arrested and poisoned. He may have died but he left a legacy that is still seen in the attitudes of the people of South Kerala which for generations enabled them to succeed even in the most dire circumstances.https://hamletram.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-murder-of-raja-kesavadas.html?m=1Malabar on the other hand remained a poor region for more than a century and even for decades after independence. The demographics of both regions, the former Travancore and the former British Malabar is itself a great contrast. Travancore even managed to make it’s Capital, Trivandrum which despite being located inconveniently towards the extreme south of the Kerala State become the state capital. However the poverty and lack of opportunities in Malabar forced it’s people mainly the muslim communities to move to the Middle east in search of livelihood. And today these people have made themselves wealthy and are instrumental in the recent development activities in the Northern half of Kerala. On the other hand people of the Southern half are comfortable with the Government or Corporate jobs and are becoming less of risk takers due to the complacency created by generations of living like the salaried classes.Despite the length, the answer seems unfinished to me. So shall keep editing. Please do help me with your suggestions in the comments section.Picture credits to Google of course !