DELHI UNIVERSITY LIBRARY No. Cl 0 . [/ ^ j 5 3 ; / ; loss » w A f Dale of release for A„ No 3 '7 e t DEC .'5j5 ThiM book E^hoald be returned on or before the date last stamped below An overdue obarge of oae anna will be charged for each dsj the book IB kept overtime. SRI MULAM TIRUNAL. K C. MANAVIKRAMAN RAJAH, ZAMORIN OF CALICUT. riTIO Z A MORI NS OF CALICITT (From the earliest times down to A. D- 1806) BY K. V. KRISHNA AYYAR, M. A., L. T., LKtJTI.'KK.R IN HISTORY, Z\M0K1N’S COI.LEGK, CALICUT, " Aiiiltiii of 7'ltf Ctos-inu/ of the Swords atul the Bid foi ‘.-I/l (hitiine }fis*oru of Kfr, FOREWORD BY J. A. THORNE Esq,, I. C. S. Price Rs. 2. CAIjICV'T : PUINTF)I) .VI’ ’J’HE) NORMAN PRINTINO BOREAl', 1938 . Copyright, 193i, by the author. DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO Sri Mulam Tirunal K. C. Manavikraman Ra]ah, y,AMOHIN OP CAIjICUT, 138th from the founder of the dynasty. V INTRODUCTION The student of history knows the Zamorin as the Lord of the Kingdom where Vasco da Gama made his histone landing in A, D. H98. The Zamorin’s claim to an abiding place in the annals of his country does not. however, depend on this accident alone For nearly nine hundred and fifty years if not more, from at the latest A. D. 826 to 1766, he was the central figure in Kerala. For eight centuries he was the recognised Raksha- purusha or Protector of the Mattmlcnm, the great national festi' val, held once in twelve years, at which the peoples and princes of Kerala offered homage and fealty to him. To him the people of Kerala owe the preservation and development of their arts and culture . in him literature and philosophy had a generous and discriminating patron. The history of (he Zamorins as rulers may be divid' ed into two parts the arrival of Vasco da Gama from Europe marking off the one from the other. The first part rests mainly upon well-established and recorded tradition As the sources on which this part is based are not easily accessible, and most of therr. are m imminent danger of disappearing altogether, the more important of them are printed as footnotes The authorities relied upon for the second part are also indicated in the foot- notes. so that the reader may refer to them for fuller information, A pioneer work of this kind must necessarily contain many imperfections and gaps The examination of foreign authorities IS not claimed to have been exhaustive though all that are important and available here have been largely drawn upon And a diligent search in the archives of the chieftains and vassals who had followed the Zamorin in his wars and conquests may yet bring to light much that is valuable and interesting For want of types with the necessary diacritical marks the standard transliteration has not been adopted. Proper nouns, when they appear for the first time, are printed in Malayalam also m the footnotes, VI The typographical errors that are unfortunately found in the text and notes are too obvious to need a separate corrigenda. Two errors of fact have, however, crept in. In line 19 on page 10 ‘Ayilyam’ must be substituted for ‘Puyam’, and in note 1 on page 133 'who was born’ for ‘which was composed’- I take this opportunity to express my obligations to the pre- sent Zamorin- not only for the help and encouragement I have received from him during the preparation of this book- but also for kindly permitting me to associate his name with it by accept- ing Its dedication 1 tender my sincere thanks to Mr J. A. Thorne, I. C. S., for the distinction he has lent to this book by his invaluable Fore- word Calicut K. V. KRISHNA AYYAR December 1938. FOREWORD It IS many years now since my close connection with the affairs of the Zamonn ended. During, and for some time after, the interesting years of that connection, I dallied with the hope of some day sitting down to the task which Mr, Krishna Ayyar has now completed- But more leisure was needed than I could find ' the mass of literature to be studied and used was formidable and some of it was inaccessible to the student m India. Mr. Krishna Ayyar would be the first to admit the gaps in his list of authorities. But it would be ungracious, and ungrateful, to dwell on defects inseparable from work done at a distance from the great libraries To compensate for them the reader will here find collected much of value from indigenous sources. If I may say so. Mr Krishna .Ayyar has used this material (often difficult and intractable) with nice discrimination I might instance his account of the Mamakam— in which he has not hesitated (page 92) to correct the too fruitful fancy of Sir James Frazer. The story of the Zamorins ts of peculiar interest to all Euro- peans who have known Malabar; both because of the part those rulers played for centuries in that impact of the west on the east which has developed into the politics of our own day. and also for a more personal reason- We foreigners who have lived and worked in Kerala hold ourselves to be singularly fortunate . what- ever else India may come to mean for us, we remember with gratitude and affection the country and people whose civilisation IS bound up with the dynasty of the Zamorins, Of the Zamorins whom I have known I may be permitted to pay a tribute to the gentle and honourable memory of him who held the sthanam from 1915 to 1 928 - and to the strong sense of duty which guided the life of the Zamorin of 193! — 1937. The present Zamorin will perhaps allow me to recall a friendship which dates back to days when he was almost as junior in the svarupam as I in the service New Delhi. J A THORNE December 1938- IX CONTENTS Page. Dedication ill Introduction Foreword Chapter I I The Nediyiruppu Svarupam 11 The Ariyittuvalcha 17 in Kerala and ita People 30 JV Early History 53 V The Rise of Calicut 80 VI 'The Maraakam 91 VII A Century of Wars and Conquests... ... ]‘21 vni Vasco da Gama ... J.i8 IX 'The Rupture with the Portuguese... ISO X The Beginning of the War witli Cochin 102 XI 'The Invasion of Cochin ... 171 XII The Portuguese War: I stage 180 XIII The Portuguese War : II stage 196 XIV The Downfall of the Portuguese ... ... 209 XV The Struggle with the Dutch ... 220 XVI The Mysorean Invasions ... 238 XVII The Zamorio and the English ... 247 XVIII How the Empire was governed 261 XIX 'The Zamorins as Patrons of Literature 296 Appendix I Sources ... 311 II The Agreement of A. D. 1806 ... 319 III List of Feudatories 326 IV Letters to Calicut (A. D. 1769) 32* V The Zamorin’s Estate (A. D. 1938) 328 VI Authorities cited 330 Chronological Summary ... 334 Index ... 340 Map preliminary CHAPTER I THE NEDIYIRIPPU SVARUPAM The original seat of the Zamoriu’s family was Nediyi- rujipn, 1 a village in the Ernad Taluk of the present Malabar District. The head of the house was known as Nediyiruppu Mutta Eradi, 2 a title which is now enjoyed hy the fifth in rank from the Zamorin. Tender the Chera rulers of Tirnvan- chikkulam the Mutta Eradi governed Ernad with the title of Ernad Utaiyar \Vhen Cheraman Perumal partitioned his empire and abdicated, the Ernad Utaiyar, like the other pro- vincial governors, became a yvarupi * or independent king, and his family came to be called the Nediyiruppu Svarupam. 'J’lio members o( the Nediyiruppu Svarupam belong to the Eradi 5 subdivision of the Samanta ® section of the Nayar race. The Samantas were, as the word indicates, feudatories or 'Naduvalis under the imj^ierial Cheras. They formed the aristocracy of the land, an aristocracy based upon birth and office. It is not certain whether Eradi is a tribal name or it Is derived from Ernad. The evidence of comparative history is in favour of the former rather than of the latter. asisiecoA. 4 1 siroslazTlffllaJ 2 sii-oslcnTliola^i aroro 3 o®o(d0§ n ^ ' (Tvijigijil. "^phe chief S\’aru]iams of Kerala are Nediyiruppu or the Zamorin, Arangottii or Valluvanad, Perim- padapim ("Kurol-ms np or Cochin, Trippappiir or hh’avancore, Kurumbiyatiri (cS'acodaBo-af’iro'l) or Kurumbaranad, Euraualtukara or Kotlayam, Kolattiri (aA'eJdjrahfljl) or Cliiralikal, Porlaliri or Kadaltanad, Tarur (™ 534)) or Palghat, Papjiu Kovil (ojojiijjionhffii) or Ecypore, and Parapjju Kovil (<uraaj3.a,Dojl(r.i) or Parappanad. a nyjoosd. G truoa ooi'li- The Maha Samantas or the great nobles were eight in number; the governors of Ernad, Venad, Onad, Konad, Kodikkunninad, Kolattunad, Polanad, Tekkan-cum-Vatakkan- Kur. 7 coo^Qiojl, who must have at least 100 Nayars under him. 2 Like the Nayars, the Samantas trace their descent and inheritance through the female, the children belong to the caste and family of the mother, and the oldest male member is the head of the family and represents it in its relations with others. They are, however, distinguished from the Nayars by their higher social status, ^ and the strict rule of hypergamy which compels a woman to have Sambandham “ with one belonging to a caste superior to hers. When the Zamorin conquered Polanad, his family aband- oned its ancestral house at Nediyiruppu and transferred its re- sidence to Vilrraraapuram, ® founded by him in commemor- * ation of his victory.