Battle of Colachel

Battle of Colachel
Part of the Travancore-Dutch War
Eustachius De Lannoy's Surrender at the Battle of Colachel
Date August 10, 1741 Location Kolachel, India Result Decisive victory for the Kingdom of Travancore
Belligerents
Travancore	Dutch East India Company
Commanders and leaders
Marthanda Varma Ramayyan Dalawa	Eustachius De Lannoy
Strength
Nair Brigade
Casualties and losses
Light	Heavy, 24 officers including Eustachius De Lannoy captured

Part of a series on the
History of Kerala
Pre-history
Pre-history of Kerala  · Edakkal Caves · Marayur
Sangam period
Sangam literature Muziris · Tyndis  Economy · Religion · Music Early Cheras Early Pandyas Ezhimalai kingdom Ay kingdom Saint Thomas Christians
Medieval age Kalabhra interregnum Mappila Later Cheras Kulashekhara Alwar Adi Shankara Medieval Chola Empire Zamorins of Calicut Venad Kolathunad Kingdom of Travancore Kingdom of Cochin Kerala school Vijayanagara Empire
Modern age
Vasco da Gama Dutch East India Company Travancore–Dutch War Battle of Colachel Mysore invasion Pazhassi Raja British East India Company Madras presidency Third Anglo–Mysore War Velu Thampi Malabar Rebellion Punnapra-Vayalar uprising Narayana Guru Travancore-Cochin Indian independence Madras State Kerala Communist Party of India

The Battle of Colachel (or Battle of Kulachal) was fought on 10 August 1741 [O.S. 31 July 1741] between forces of the Indian kingdom of Travancore and the Dutch East India Company, during the Travancore-Dutch War. The Dutch never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India, assisting the British East India Company's eventual rise to dominance on the Indian subcontinent.

Background

Almost all the pepper that the Dutch imported into their country came from the kingdom of Kayamkulam. When the then Maharajah of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, realised that the Rajah of Kayamkulam was involved in certain conspiracies against him, he became bent on destroying Kayamkulam and annexing the kingdom. This endangered Dutch interests, who feared the British would gain the rights to the pepper trade from them, thus ending the Dutch monopoly. With this in view the Dutch Governor wrote of Marthanda Varma asking him to end aggressions against Kayamkulam to which the Maharajah wrote back asking him not to interfere in matters that did not concern him. The Governor then met the Maharajah in person and threatened war on the basis that they were a "superior" power. The interview was closed by a scornful remark from the Maharajah that if the "superior" power should attack them "there were forests in Travancore into which he and his people could retire in safety" and that he had himself been planning to invade Europe with his fishermen. This last interview ended, thus, in tension and the Governor decided to attack Travancore.

Marthanda Varma

In a series of battles, Marthanda Varma annexed the kingdoms of Attingal, Quilon, and Kayamkulam. He started his campaign against the Kottarakara and other allies of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch Governor Van Imhoff met Varma to protest against his policy towards their allies and the meeting served to aggravate the situation. In 1741 AD, the Dutch installed a princess of the Elayadathu Swarupam as the rule of Kottarakara in defiance to the demands of Marthanda Varma. The Travancore army inflicted a crushing defeat upon the combined Kottarakara-Dutch armies and annexed the kingdom, forcing the Dutch to retreat to Cochin. Following this, Marthanda Varma captured all of the Dutch forts in the area.

Battle

The battle began when a force of Dutch marines under the leadership of a Flemish commander, Captain Eustachius De Lannoy (also spelt D'lennoy) were sent to Travancore to secure a trading post from the Raja. They landed with artillery in Kulachal, then a small but important coastal town, and captured the territory up to Padmanabhapuram, then the capital of Travancore. The arrival of the Raja's army from the north forced the Dutch to take up defensive positions in Kulachal, where they were attacked and defeated by the Travancore Nair Army. The key element of the Raja's army was his personal army, known as the Travancore Nair Brigade or locally known as the Nair Pattalam. This unit was later integrated into the Indian Army as the 9th Battalion Madras Regiment and the 16th Battalion Madras Regiment in 1954.

Eustachius De Lannoy was pardoned on condition that he helped modernize the Travancore Army. He carried out his orders with such sincerity and devotion that he rose through the ranks and eventually became the "Valia Kapitaan" (Commander in Chief) of the Tranvancore military and was given the "Dillanai kotta" (De Lennoy's fort) to reside. He introduced firearms, artillery and the European style of military drill in Travancore. The Travancore army that De Lannoy had modernized went on to conquer more than half of the modern state of Kerala and the Nedumkotta (northern lines) forts he had designed, helped to delay Tipu Sultan's army during the Third Anglo-Mysore War in 1791 AD till the British East India Company joined the war.

Impact

A direct outcome of the event at Kulachal was the takeover of the black pepper trade by the state of Travancore. This development was to have serious repercussions on the Dutch and the trading world of Kerala at large. In 1753 the Dutch signed the Treaty of Mavelikkara with the Raja agreeing not to obstruct the Raja's expansion, and in turn, to sell to him arms and ammunition. This marked the beginning of the end of Dutch influence in India. The VOC continued to sell Indonesian spices and sugar in Kerala until 1795, at which time the English conquest of the Kingdom of Kochi ended their rule in India.

Tributes

• The Indian government has built a pillar of victory in Kulachal to commemorate the event.
• The Indian Post Department released a Rupee 5 stamp on April 1, 2004 to commemorate the tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the raising of the 9th Battalion of Madras Regiment.
• In the words of the noted historian, Prof Sreedhara Menon, "A disaster of the first magnitude for the Dutch, the battle of Colachel shattered for all time their dream of the conquest of Kerala".

See also

• Battle of Diu
• Battle of Swally

Additional reading

• Iyer, Dr. S. Krishna. Travancore-Dutch Relations, Nagercoil: CBH Publications, 1994, 164 pgs. ISBN 81-85381-42-9
• Menor, Sheela. Military History of Travancore with special reference to the Nayar Brigade, Ethiraj College for Women, 1995
• Menon, Dr. Sreedhara. A survey of Kerala history, S. Viswanathan Printers and Publishers, 1996.
• http://www.hindu.com/yw/2004/07/24/stories/2004072401210200.htm
• http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/01/stories/2010080154870200.htm

External links

• TANAp-a National Archives of Netherlands project
• Rediff.com