The battle of Colachel was fought between the Indian kingdom of Travancore led by Raja Marthanda Varma and the Dutch East India Company led by Admiral Eustachius De Lannoy. Captain DP Ramachandran (retired), of the Colours of Glory foundation, had once said, “It was the first time in Indian history that a native army defeated a European force. It was even more unique because an army with firearms lost to an army without one.”
Raja Marthanda Varma refused to bow down infront of the Dutch
After the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century, Kerala’s trade began extending to parts of Europe. Around the 1730s, the Malabar Coast region was divided among several political powers Raja Marthanda Varma was the ruler of the southern kingdom of Travancore and he began extending the boundaries of his kingdom. He successfully conquered neighbouring territories, kingdoms and principalities.
The Dutch who had a monopoly over the trade of black pepper, were fuming in anger as Marthanda Varma’s expansionist policy had a huge economic impact on the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch Governor, Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff reached Cochin to find a solution. He started forcing other rulers to honour their treaties with the Company. He also met Varma personally to warn him about military action against the Kingdom of Travancore.
Raja Marthanda Varma, however, refused to bow down to Dutch and even told Imhoff that he was planning to attack the Netherlands someday. Rattled by this, the Dutch waged a war on the Kingdom of Travancore by the end of 1739.
Dutch were emerging victorious
The troops were deployed, the war was on and even Dutch achieved several successes in the beginning. The troops not only forced the Travancore forces to retreat from Kollam but also began marching towards Attingal, Varkala, and succeeded in capturing these two strategic assets too.
Later, they decided to launch a second campaign against the King. On 26th November 1740, the Dutch deployed two large ships and three sloops to the coast of Colachel. Dutch commander van Gollenesse, a few days later, ordered his forces to capture all the ships, except English Ships, which led to the worsening situation for the throne of Travancore.
The Dutch intended to capture Padmanabhapuram, the capital of Travancore, and thus, chose Colachel to launch the attack. In February 1741, a large Dutch group consisting of seven large ships and many vessels was deployed on the coast of Colachel. The Dutch kept capturing nearby villages and looted and destroyed the regions under Raja Marthanda Varma, therefore, inching towards Padmanabhapuram day by day.
Then entered Raja Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma
While more men were required to control the newly conquered areas, the Dutch government failed to send new troops due to the Java War in Indonesia. Eagerly waiting for a chance, Raja Marthanda Varma got an opportunity to attack Dutch in the wake of the shortage of troops on the Dutch side.
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Since the Army of Travancore didn’t have any siege equipment, Raja Marthanda Varma decided to stop the supplies to the Dutch enemy. It helped the Travancore army block the Dutch from all four sides. Due to the heavy winds, rain and floods at the same time, the Dutch had no dry gunpowder left which reduced their ammunition capacities. The Dutch were forced to either starve or surrender. Not so surprisingly, they chose the latter. Raja Marthanda also returned all the weapons to the Dutch soldiers who were ready to join his army.
The battle was an amalgamation of bravery, courage, honesty and victory over the Dutch forces. The victory led to a new start for the King as Dutch lost control over pepper production. Leaving the battle aside, the legacy of Raja Marthanda Varma cannot be described in a few words as his glory cannot be told in words but only can be witnessed.
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