European powers like Portugal, Spain,France,Britain & Dutch all started to establish their factories in India. One by one these Europeans entered India and established a firm grip on the trade market. One of them was Dutch who wanted to control the pepper trade of Kerala region.
But their dream was ultimately crushed by a young King of Travancore in the Battle of Colachel in 1741.
Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma was born in 1705 at Travancore.His father was Raghava Varma who belonged to the Royal House of Killimanur & his mother was Karthika Thirunal.
He ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Travancore at a very young age of 24 yrs in 1729 when his father died of severe fever. Travancore was very vulnerable at this point of time. To fulfil his ambitions he took over the neighbouring Kingdoms of Attignal and Venad as soon as...
..he sat on Throne.Under the young King Marthanda,the Kingdom of Travancore emerged as a powerful one by which even the western powers were threatened.When Marthanda annexed the region of Kollam and Kayamkulam,the Europeans especially the Dutch got anxious & upset more than ever.
The situation was further escalated when Marthanda decided to bring down the Kingdom of Odanad under his rule which was under an agreement with the Dutch to sell all their Black Pepper to them.
To tackle this rising threat from Travancore, the Dutch Governor Gustaaf Van...
..decided to discuss terms with former hoping for some negotiation.King Marthanda, however refused to accept any terms,which eventually resulted in fierce battle between the two.
In the year 1741,Dutch Army under leadership of Captain De Lannoy landed on the shores of Colachel.
The Dutch set their base at Padmanabhapuram, about 13 km away from Travancore.From here the Dutch forces advanced towards Travancore and laid a siege on the Fort of Kalkulam.
While the invaders were busy with the siege,King Marthanda was conducting a religious ritual at a Temple.
After completing his ritual, Marthanda ferociously lead his men to Battle & both Armies crossed swords with each other at the fierce Battle of Colachel.Battle resulted in a complete disaster for the Dutch who incurred several casualties &were forced to retreat back to their base.
Do you know?
Marthanda Varma had a special force known as 'Nair Pattalam' that played very important part in the Battle of Colachel.
King Marthanda and his men chased the retreating enemy all the way back to their camp and laid a siege on it.
To distract the aggressive and fierce Travancore Soldiers,the Dutch attacked from the seas but all they got was a befitting reply from the Travancore Army there too.
The Battle resulted in a Humongous victory for the Travancore King and the Dutch never recovered from this defeat.
The Mighty Dutch Empire soon started declining after this.
The Dutch Captain De Lannoy surrendered but his life was spared by the mighty king following the code of Dharma.
This was probably the first time a major European power who had established its dominion all over South...
...East Asia was so badly defeated by an Indian King and yet it is unkown to most of the Indians.
The Battle of Colachel was a major factor that ended the dominance of the Dutch in the Kerala region and they signed the Treaty of Mavelikkara in 1753.
To celebrate this massive victory, the Travancore state erected the victory pillar near Colachel Beach.
Later in his life King Marthanda surrendered all his wealth in the feet of God Padmanabhaswamy and adopted the title of 'Sri Padmanabhadasa'.
He died later in 1758 and was succeeded by his nephew Rama Varma.
