That was the year 1757 At Bethanayakkanur Kottai (means Fort) in Tamil Nadu (present-day Thoothukudi District). The war occupies a special place in the history of Bharat. The Chieftain of the palayam Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone stood valorously against the threats of the East India Company (Kumbini as it was known in local parlance then), refused to give up his dignity and to pay taxes. Colonel Heron and Yusuf Khan alias Marudanaayakam led a large force of the Company against him.
There were only 6 generals and 248 soldiers who stood on the side of Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone (referred as Veeran Azhagu henceforth). Neither the size nor the weaponry of the opposing army, nor the obvious end that is imminent death, perturbed the men captains and the foot soldiers alike in the least. The reason for this is the leadership qualities demonstrated by the hero who led them from the front in the battle field. Veeran Azhagu was a celebrated hero for his skilful swift wielding of sword in the battles.
To hold out for three plus hours against the guns and artillery of the enemy itself was a great feat. Veeran Azhagu was shot in the leg. Subsequently he and his 6 generals were imprisoned, chained and on the right and left sides of the same cannon, 3 generals each, in the middle, the seven soldiers named Azhagu Muthu were shot by cannon balls and their bodies were scattered to death. See the cruelty, the corpse of the Veeran Azhagu was cut in to several pieces and each of them were buried scattered around many villages. Similarly, 248 soldiers sacrificed their lives for the motherland by being shot, hacked and hanged.
Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone was born on July 11, 1728 in the royal dynasty of Kattaalangulam again in Thoothukudi district. They belonged to the Yadhavar clan, variously known as the Idayar-Konar-Ayar-Krishna Gotra. He developed skills in martial arts at an early age and won many contests and earned the title of ‘Servai’. After his father’s death in 1750, he assumed the royal duties. Unable to tolerate the good governance given by him, the Kumbiniyars waged a war in 1757.
Here, a word about Colonel Heron. He has been mentioned in various memoirs and recordings of British Army officials for successful handling of negotiations with several palayakaaras ( poligars) by employing all the tactics- Saama – Bheda – Daana- Danda. Thus, he accelerated the spread of the influence of the East India Company in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu, from Tiruchirapalli to Madurai to Tirunelveli. His job was made easy by the active support of Marudanaayakam (Yusuf Khan). Both of them never hesitated to deploy the cruel and wicked means to quell the uprisings against the company.
It is observed that most of the heroes such as Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone have been restricted and remembered as caste leaders. While it is true that these heroes have not gained a wider attention because of being confined to caste contours, we may console ourselves for their life histories and feats are passed on to the successive generations through folklores and street plays in their community congregations. In the absence of even those celebrations, there is a real danger of pushing out the memories of those freedom fighters. All these years, we have been witnessing the trend of keeping the lives of those heroes off the text books by the Caldwell-Macaulay Daasaas and left-wing writers. We read only the battles of Plassey or Buxar in our history lessons!
Still worse is the recent attempts in holding up the persons such as Marudanaayakam, Robert Ashe who crushed the nationalist forces. Also recall the occurrences of Bhima Koregaon in 2018. Can we afford to fail in identifying the ominous pattern and parties behind such ‘ sporadic’ occurrences?
–M. R. Jambunaathan
