APPENDIX I TBE ORIGIN OF TBE NAIR REBELLION OF 1766 Some interesting conclusions can be drawn from the Dutch letters with respect to Haidar's movements following his conquest of Calicut and to the origin of the Nair rebellion, conclusions which as will be seen do not correspond with the genera11y accepted view of these events. Beginning with the latter, Hayavadana Rao, when describing them, refers to Wilks, Kirmani, the Haidar-Namah, Robson, but mainly to de la Tour. Rao then writes: "All this took nearly a montb from the day Mana-Vikrama put hirnself to death in such an extraordinary fashion. Haidar then moved further south-west, with the view of reducing the country as far as Travancore, thus completing his designs of the conquest of the whole of the Western Coast from Goa onwards. He had the more reason to do this now, as he suspected that the sons of the N air chiefs of Malabar - including those belonging to the Kolattiri and Zamorin families - had taken counsel with the kings of Travancore and Cochin, and had collected a large army at Ponnani, about 36 miles to the south of Calicut. Their forces assembled on the banks of the river of the same name, and were assisted by a few European gunners and Portuguese artisans. These, however, precipitately withdrew, immediately Haidar made his appearance. He pursued them as far as Cochin, some fifty miles further to tbe southward where, by the mediation of the Dutch, the king of Cochin made peace with hirn by agreeing to pay tribute to M ysore. Ponnani possessed a strong fort and it was garrisoned by Haidar immediate1y the Nairs retired before hirn. The example of Cochin was followed by the submission of the rest of the chiefs, including the Raja of Palghat, who all agreed to pay tribute and settle the alleged claims of the Mapillas. On these terms, their territories were restored to them, except that the nephews of the Zamorin were kept out of possession of Calicut and the territory subordinate to it. From Cochin, after a dreary and difficult march, in which many horses and cattle were lost, Haidar passed through the woods of Annamalais, receiving on the way tribute from the Rajas of Palghat and Cochin; and reached Coimbatore, towards the close of April 1766, 172 THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND MYSORE where he cantoned. Before doing so, he posted Ali Raza-Khan with 3,000 infantry at Mannarkat, a large town and fortress on the frontier, about 18 miles west by south of Coimbatore and midway between Ponnani and Palghat. Madanna at Coimbatore, however, did not fulfil expectations. His exactions and his lack of knowledge of the character of the people he had to deal with proved inimical to the success of his administration. Nor would the Nairs easily yield to foreign sub­ jugation as Haidar seems to have thought. Their fiery zeal for independence and the imprudent measures of Madanna drove them into open rebellion. The secret help that the king of Travan­ core rendered them and the nephews of the Zamorin also evidently inclined them in the same direction. Ali Raja and his brother Shaik Raja had added their own quota. If they and Madanna had been more temperate in their exactions, the rebellion would perhaps have been less general. Within two or three months of Haidar's arrival at Coimbatore, he received news of a general rebellion of the Nairs throughout the invaded country".487 As more often is the case, de la Tour, Rao's main source for this part, seems to have mixed up several events. As related before, on page 31, Haidar's troops had reached Ponnani as early as the first half of April. At the same time it was reported from Cranganore to Cochin that there was a daily stream of fugitives from the north, amongst whom the royal families of Kolattiri, Kadattanad and Kottayam who went into exile to Paravur, whereas the relations of the Zamorin were still staying at Chowghat.488 Even if for one moment one might be inclined to assurne that at that time Haidar's power extended itself to Ponnani for a very short period only, this suggestion is immediately refuted by the fact that the Dutch commissioners while on their way to Calicut expected to learn, and indeed did learn, that at Ponnani orders from Haidar had been received to accompany them on their further journey.489 Likewise there is not a single indication in the Dutch sources that a large army had been collected by theNair chiefs at or near Ponnani during the next month before Haidar had left the country. If for that reason he had been marching southeastwards 490 from C!llicut, the commissioners on their way back to Cochin should at least have noticed some tumult when reaching Ponnani. On the contrary, it is expressly stated that no sooner had Haidar left for the 487 C. Hayavadana Rao, HistorJ/ 01 Mysore, 11, pp. 576-8. 488 Rist. Ace., p. 9. 4199 P. 39 supra. 4DO Rao's "southwest" is a slip of the pen of course. THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND MYSORE 173 east - from Ponnani - than areport dated 6 June 1766 was received at Cochin from Cranganore that the princes of Calicut had arrived there and had started gathering an army.491 Moreover, it would have been rather foolish of Haidar to have sent the main part of his army ahead froin Ponnani to Coimbatore 492 if there had been any chance of a dash with a large N air army near the coast. As for the reason of Haidar's staying behind at Ponnani for one or two days, I would like to suggest that he was anxious to know the result of the Company's negotiations with Travancore and Cochin. In the instructions for the commissioners sent to the rulers of these two states it is stated that after having explained the situation they should return immediately to report, so that Haidar who at Ponnani would await the reply to his latest letter to Breekpot, could get it as soon as possible.493 We have seen already that if Haidar did postpone his departure from Ponnani for this reason, the delay was in vain, for Breekpot did not answer until the 29th of May, that is to say, after Haidar had followed the main body of his troops. Consequently, the whole episode of the pursuit of the Nair army by Haidar as far as Cochin must be deleted from Rao's description. As for the peace-making of Cochin's raja with Haidar, we have seen 494 that indeed consultations took place, first at Calicut, later at Vaikam and Cochin. The Dutch undoubtedly played a part in these discussions as a sort of go-between but it goes too far to say, as Rao does, that through their mediation a settlement was reached. First, there were other negotiations as well, directly between Haidar and representatives of the raja and indirectly through Surion. Moreover, although most probably tribute was promised by the raja during these discussions, no definite result was reached, as follows from Madanna's letter to Breekpot of 24 June 1766 in which he wrote about negotiations planned to be held with the rajas of Travancore and Cochin in Breekpot's presence.495 Rao's assertion that Cochin's raja paid tribute to Haidar on his way to Coimbatore cannot easily be brought into agreement with this statement. It follows from what has been related before that Haidar may have reached Coimbatore during the first half of June. How Rao arrives 491 Hist. Ace., p. 16. See also p. 48 supra. 492 P. 48 supra. 493 L. j. M., 1767, I, Instructions for embassy to Travancore, May 25, 1766. 494 Pp. 42, 45-7 supra. 495 P. 48 supra. 174 THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND MYSORE at his date of "towards the elose of April" I am not sure, but it cannot be said that it arises logically from what he has written before. He assurnes that Haidar reached Calicut on 20 April 1766 and that the Zamorin committed suicide subsequently.496 If sufficient time is allowed for the events described in the paragraph of his book quoted above, the date to be expected for the arrival at Coimbatore works out at about the same as that to which the Dutch sources point. Haidar can hardly have stayed more than a few days at Coimbatore when the first reports oi. arebellion reached hirn, for from what we have seen above, its starting-point may be determined to lie in the first week of ]une.497 In this respect Rao does not refer to de la Tour who gives Mayas the month in which the revolt started,498 but mentions Wilks and Robson as references when he says that "Within two or three months of Haidar's arrival at Coimbatore, he received news of a general rebellion of the Nairs throughout the invaded country".499 The elearer view of the consecutive events in their chronological order which I have tried to give in the foregoing, may be of some help in indicating the character of the rebellion of 1766 in Malabar. Con­ cerning the causes of the rebellion Wilks expresses hirnself even more strongly than Rao does in the passage quoted before, when he writes: "The civil governor to whom Hyder had entrusted the fiscal arrangements of Malabar, viewed its resources through the medium of the practices of exaction in which he had been educ­ ated; but was too little versed in the study of human nature to consider the habits and prejudices of a conquered people among the elements of his system of revenue.