Wow! I have seen some great answers.
Most of them are about different empires and freedom fighters etc.
However there is one person that I want to talk about that no one else talks about, despite his importance in Indian History. Please do read till the end.
So who is the Historical figure that every Indian should know about?
Ever heard about this man?
Most of you would say NO. In fact, most Indians living outside Kerala would not even have a clue of who this person is. Even some people living in Kerala have not heard about him.
This is Marthanda Varma, an 18th century warrior King that ruled the Kingdom of Travancore from 1729 AD - 1758 AD. So what makes him so special from the rest of the kings that ruled different parts of India?
A little background:
Marthanda Varma, took over the small principality of Venad and waged war against 16 different neighboring Kingdoms, defeating them all.
When Marthanda Varma took over as the King of Venad in 1729 AD, this is how Kerala looked like:
Venad is that small green area in the southern most tip of Kerala. (Please note that Malabar was already unified by the Samoothiri of Kozhikode even though it is not shown in the map).
Soon after securing his power in his own kingdom by defeating the baronial lords of the eight noble houses, Marthanda Varma began plans to invade the Kingdoms of Attingal, Quilon (Kollam) and Kayamkulam.
After a destructive battle, Marthanda Varma captured the fort of Kollam and merged the lands to his kingdom. He then Marched towards Kayamkulam, ruled by a branch of his own royal house.
Emblem of the Kingdom of Travancore, today part of Kerala.
Why every Indian should look up to him:
Varma’s campaigns against other kingdoms bothered the Colonial powers, especially the Dutch East India Company, who had trade monopolies with Kayamkulam. The Dutch also had the dream of taking over Kerala and making it a part of their colonial empire. Marthanda Varma was a threat to them.
Hence the Dutch sent messages to Marthanda Varma saying that if Kayamkulam was attacked, then he would have to pay the price.
In one crucial message to Marthanda Varma, the Dutch wrote:
“If you disrupt our trade with the Raja of Kayamkulam, then we will invade your land and you will have to hide in the forests”.
It was at this moment that Marthanda Varma did something that no other King of India dared to do. He openly challenged a colonial power by saying that:
“If you stop me from unifying my Kingdom, I will gather all my strength and invade The Netherlands!”.
Just imagine, Marthanda Varma knew him invading The Netherlands was not possible.
He barely had a Navy and the Dutch had far more superior weapons. However the King was sending a powerful message to the Dutch East India company that if they brought their Colonial ambitions with them, then they would be met with fierce resistance.
The Dutch spent no time waiting. They assembled armed men and large warships from their base located at Sri Lanka. Then they invaded Marthanda Varma’s territory.
However when they reached the town of Colachel, Marthanda Varma and his highly trained soldiers bombarded the Dutch camp and killed many. The Dutch general named Eustachius De Lannoy surrendered to the Indian King.
Yes, for the first time an Indian King had officially defeated a Colonial power without using any superior technology that the Dutch had. This made Marthanda Varma famous. His tale of resistance spread throughout the Land and the Dutch sued for peace with the victorious king.
What made Marthanda Varma more of a God like figure was that instead of Killing the Dutch commander, the Maharajah made him the Naval commander of his newly formed fleet. By doing this, Marthanda Varma ensured that his newly formed navy will be the most sophisticated one in the entire region.
A picture of the surrender of the Dutch to Marthanda Varma:
The captured Dutch men were treated with respect. Many of them stayed back at Travancore and helped Marthanda Varma with further campaigns.
Now, much of us would think “Yes he was the first Indian to defeat a European power, but why should everyone look up to him?”.
My answer for that question is that if Marthanda Varma had not defeated the Dutch, then all of us, whether North Indian or South Indian, would be speeking and writing in Dutch.
Yes, believe it or not, the British colonized South India first before North India (except Bengal). So if the Dutch East India company had got a foothold in the South, it would have taken them just decades to advance to North India.
This is why every Indian should look up to this great king.
After Marthanda Varma’s victory at Colachel, he conquered all the way up to the Kingdom of Cochin.
After unifying Southern Kerala for the first time in 800 years, Marthanda Varma symbolically stepped down from the Throne.
He proclaimed that his Kingdom belonged to God (Sree Padmanabhaswamy) and that he would rule the Kingdom of Travancore as the servant of Lord Padmanabha.
Hence he got the title of Sree Padmanabha Dasa (Servant of Lord Padmanabha).
By the end of his 30 year reign, Marthanda Varma’s Kingdom looked like this:
Marthanda Varma Maharajah, had a small chiefdom when he become King and by the time of his death, he ran a large Kingdom.
Thanks for Reading 🙏
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