7 Responses

1. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am

   The mention of Kottaym in relation to the movie Pazhassi Raja put me on alert. There is a Pazhassi Raja college in Kannur run by the Syro MALANKARA Catholic church, which was formed only in 1930, a church which claims Kerala was known in ancient times as MALANKARA and not MALABAR. It does not trouble them only Malabar is mentioned in old authentic writings and not Malankara. The name Malankara exists only in their books. The church was formed in Thiruvalla of Kottayam district.
   For reasons now easy to understand, Kottayam has been desperate to be counted as ancient and noble and recent publications are all about inventing stories about antiquity and nobility to match their new found wealth through rubber and tea estates and British CMS missionary introduced English education since 1817.
   Kottayam did not exist until the king of Travancore annexed Thekkumkur and Manjanad and formed Kottayam in 1817. So how did a royal family of Kottayam exist in ancient times, that too which ruled the northern part of Kerala? Thekkumkur was an insignficant and extremely small kingdom which had nothing to do with central or north Kerala at any time. Even when king of Travancore expanded his kingdom with British help to oust the Dutch, it came only as far as Cochin, not any further.
   It is all propaganda, this story of Pazhassi Raja being from Kottayam etc etc.
   Could the movie makers be honest in admitting that the movie is fiction like Lagaan?
   The Nayar Pattalam of Travancore helped the British to outst the Dutch and quell the Mopallah Muslim rebellion against the British in Malabar. Nairs were part of the British army, and never fought against the British at any time. No wonder they are now eager to be associated with freedom struggle because they were not part of it when the British were actually there. The Princely state of Travancore had the best relationship with the British. The king worked freely with the British resident to develop his kingdom. Plantation of tea and rubber led to immense wealth in a short time. English education introduced by British missionaries gave Travancorias (especially those in upper Travancore - Kottayam) great edge during British Raj.
   This fiction is to cover up the fact that there was no resistance to British rule in Travancore at all. Only Muslims in Malabar put up a rebellion. It had nothing to do with Travancore.

2. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am

   Correction: Kottayam was formed in 1754 by the king of Travancore by the unification of Thekkumkur and Manjanad.

3. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am

   Correction of Typo: Kottayam was formed by the king of Travancore in 1754 by the unification of Thekkumkur and Manjanad which he annexed from the year 1749.

4. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am

   During British Raj in Kerala which began in the year 1795, it consisted of three parts - the Princely state of Travancore in the south, the Princely state of Cochin in central Kerala and Malabar District of Madras Presidency in the north. The state of Kerala was formed after Indian independence in two stages. The Travancore and Cochin princely states joined to form the joint Travancore-Cochin state in 1949. The state of Kerala was formed in 1956 by unifying Malabar District and the joint Travancore-Cochin state. Along liguistic lines. At this time the Tamil speaking part of Travancore in extreme south was given to Tamil Nad (which was known as Madras State until recently) and a small Malayalam speaking part of Karnataka was added to Kerala in the north. The districts that correspond to erstwhile Travancore state are - Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta (until 1982 a part of Kottayam), Kollam (Quilon), Alapuzha (Allepey), Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum). The districts that correspond with the Princely state of Cochin in central Kerala are: Ernakulam and Thrissur. The districts that formed the Malabar District in North Kerala are: Kannur, Kozhikode (Calicut), Wayanad, Mallapuram and Palakkad (Palghat). Kasargode in the extreme north was part of Karnataka until 1956. The Malabar Muslim rebellion, known as Mopallah Rebellion took place in Malabar District in the north. No Malayali in Travancore had anything to do with it. The Mopallah Rebellion by Malayali Muslims in Malabar has been maliciously portrayed as Muslim attacking Hindus to discredit the community. It was rebellion against British rule. Since Hindus formed most of the British army (remember British always used locals in their armies and had only whites as officers) it has been portrayed in the new fashion of vilifying Indian Muslims. Remember Muslims ruled large parts of India when British arrived. So British help had been sought by many Hindu kings to fight Muslims. Kerala Muslims are locals, converted by Arab traders many centuries ago, and had nothing to do with Muslim invasion in the North. They are therefore not Moghuls from the North.

5. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

   It can be said with some historical accuracy that there was no Hindu resistance to British rule in Kerala at all because two thirds of the present Kerala state consisted of semi independent princely states - Travancore and Cochin. Only the Muslim majority north, was directly under British rule and was known as the Malabar District of Madras Presidency. The Kerala Muslim rebellion in Malabar District took place in 1921. It was quelled by the British army which consisted of Indian Hindus, the Nayamar (aglicized to Nair) community were known to be good soldiers and they served in the British army. The Nayar Pattalam (Nair army) of Travancore had helped in the ousting of the Dutch from Kerala, assisted by the British.

6. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

   The film is sure to be good along the line of Indian films which are fairy tale depictions to entertain. The problem starts only when a distorted version of history is presented. How come it could a Nair film script writer to discover “history” two hundred years after a supposed independence struggle took place. The only recorded independence struggle was in 1921 and that too by Kerala Muslims in Malabar District in North Kerala.
   Malayalis from Kottayam of eastwhile Travancore should stop trying to shine in borrowed feathers, using the power of their pen first given to them by the British CMS in 1817.

7. Critical Malayali Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

   Indian cinema has started this new trend of creating history with the help of movies. The freedom of artists is misused to present distorted versions of the past to create a particular political effect. There is an obsession in the recent past to show the Hindu community as having fought European influence, and British. Never mind India won its freedom by non-violent means. There is a section of the Hindu community who feel that somehow shows up the Hindus as cowards. They want militant heroes and martyrs. Since the real ones are few and far between and has had little to do with national freedom struggle, filmi people are being recruited to invent heroes and make propaganda films.

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