culture of kottayam as defined by pazhassi raja
Answers
•it's influenced mostly by SYRIAN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
•dance is Margamkali and Arjuna Nritham (my FAV.... )
•pazhassi Raja was also a freedom fighter!!!!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Pazhassi Raja was a member of the western branch of the Kottayam royal clan. When Hyder Ali of the Kingdom of Mysore occupied Malabar in 1773, the Raja of Kottayam found political asylum in Kallara near Vikom in Kottayam district of Kerala. Pazhassi Raja, the fourth prince in line for succession to the throne during this period, became one of the de facto heads of state, surpassing several older royal contenders. He fought a war of resistance against the Mysorean army from 1774 to 1793. On account of his refusal to flee and due to his effective resistance to Mysoreans, he gained firm support of his subjects.
In 1792, after the Third Anglo-Mysore War, the East India Company imposed control in Kottayam in violation of an earlier agreement of 1790 which had recognised its independence. Vira Varma, to whom Raja was a nephew, was appointed by the East India Company authorities as the Raja of Kottayam. To meet revenue targets fixed by Company authorities, Vira Varma ordered an exorbitant tax to be collected from the peasantry and this move was met in 1793 by a mass resistance led by Pazhassi Raja, who had always been opposed to the Company's rule. In 1796, the Company made an attempt to arrest Pazhassi Raja, but he evaded capture and instead fought back using guerilla warfare. After a string of serious setbacks, the Company sued for peace in 1797. The conflict was renewed in 1800 over a dispute on Wayanad and after a five-year-long war of insurgency, Pazhassi Raja was killed on 30 November 1805 in a gun-fight at Mavila Thodu (small body of water), in the present day Kerala-Karnataka border. After the assassination of King Pazhassi, the British decided to kill two of his close associates (nephews) Veera Varma and Ravi Varma, who supposed to be the next rules of the kingdom. For saving life and family members they escaped from British army and intelligence, they stayed few days in Nilambur palace, then in Idapaly Sworupam and finally took refuge in a place called “Kallara forest” in central Travancore. Unbeknownst to the British, the brothers and their family traveled by "Thoni" (boat) to Travancore and found refuge in the Vaikom backwaters in heavy rain and wind. They lived on a place where they escaped from water to land, known as the "kara pattiya idam" means the place or land where they rescued from water, later the name of the Kovilakam restructured and called Karavattidom . Today, the Kovilakam lives in the graveyard village of Kottayam district under the name 'Karavattidam Kovilakam'. Descendants of Veera Verma and Ravi Verma never went to Malabar again for fear of the British army killing their descendants. Their idol, Kallarabhagavathy, is worshiped in the same way as Porkali Bhagavathy. Even after the end of the British ruling, they were forced to flee their country and seek refuge in another place as refugees, for them it was unable to bear to see the British brutality that had humiliated them in public. The British army made the Pazhasi Kovilakam a public road and decided to kill Pazhassi's nephews as well. British intelligence continued to try to track down Veera Varma and Ravi Varma but they couldnt. As part of their secret mission the British Collector decided to pay a compensation to the descendants of Pazhassi. But the money received by a woman from Kizhake Kovilakam, a related family those who were not part of any rebellion. However, the remaining co-families associated with the Pazhassi Kovilakam later became known as the Pazhassi dynasty.