And the tragedy which befell the Chikka Deva Rajendra
The house imprisonment of Karunakara Menon was a major cause that precipitated the invasion and acquisition of Coorg by the British, a sad tale in itself. An event which is said to have weighed upon the conscience of Menon, until the end of his life, this resulted in the British acquiring the rich Coorg highlands, the banishment of the Raja to Banaras, and the adoption of his daughter by Queen Victoria, among other things…All in all, an interesting story, if you are inclined to join me on a trip up to the NE of Calicut, where Menon had been living in retirement when this furor started.
The Lingayat Haleri dynasty was not that ancient and ruled over the small hilly terrain for just 200 years or thereabouts. The highland area of Coorg was of not much interest to the neighboring kingdoms, and it was only after the British arrived and locked horns with the Mysore Sultans that the Kodagu (Coorg) kingdom came into prominence as a strategic hilly region between Malabar and Mysore, East off the EIC offices at Tellicherry.
When Hyder meddled in the administration of his state, Lingaraja resisted. After his untimely passing, his children (Veerarajendra, Appajiraja, and Lingarajendra) were held in captivity. Around this time, the first of the Anglo-Mysore wars occurred, and eventually, after the death of Hyder, and the coronation of Tipu Sultan, the situation went south. Tipu threatened to convert the populace, and decimate all opposers unless they stopped their rebellion. The rebellion continued, and Tipu retaliated mercilessly, transporting large numbers to Seringapatam, renaming Madikeri to Jaffarabad, and installing Janulabin as his man in Kodagu. Two of Veera Rajendra’s sisters were attached to Tipu’s harem.
As the story goes, the three sons eventually escaped from Tipu’s fort and got back to Kodagu. Dodda Veera Rajendra (dodda – senior) as he was known, after a series of skirmishes, threw out Tipu’s army and regained the Madikeri fort. In 1791, the new Raja signed a treaty with the EIC, represented by Robert Taylor. Nine years later Tipu had been killed, thanks to the passage provided through Coorg for the Bombay forces who joined hands with the Madras forces, ending in the taking of Seringapatam. As threats to the Kodagu kingdom receded, the EIC now asked the Raja to pay them the amount of Rs 24,000 which they had been making annually to Tipu. An agreement to give an elephant annually seems to have resolved this issue, though it came to the fore again years later, in the court of law, as a technicality.
Over time, Dodda Veera Rajendra became paranoid and frustrated as he could not sire a son, only four daughters. Not only was he depressed, but was also prone to fits of violence and it is said that his African Sidi guards killed many of his purported enemies and schemers. During this period, he wrote the Rajendraname – a history of the Haleri dynasty, as well as his will, in which asked the British to make his daughter the queen, leaving behind a sizeable deposit of around Rs 7 lakhs for her care, etc. By 1807 he was gone, after another bout of insanity. His brother Appaji had in the meantime been assassinated, while Lingaraja settled down in Haleri. As matters would have it, Linga Rajendra was appointed as the regent. Accompanied by his lame childhood friend Kunta Basava, Lingaraja soon convinced the young queen Devammaji to hand over the throne to him, which she did by abdicating, in 1810. He then demanded the EIC return the Rs 6.4 lakh deposit (in her name), which they did not, but agreed to continue paying interest. He too seemingly, proved to be a despot until death and in 1820, was succeeded by his son Chikka (Junior) Deva Rajendra. Chikka’s mother it seems, committed suicide by swallowing diamond dust.
As the story goes, Chikka Veera Rajendra was no better than his father, and proved to be despotic, and indulged in kuthinasa, or the murder of others in his family to prevent dissent. He was rumored to have had over 28 members of his family killed with the help of Kunta Basava, the new Dewan. Chikka remained suspicious of his female cousins, especially his senior cousin Devammaji, the original heir of the Coorg throne. Alarmed when he decided to move against them, his sister Devamma and her husband Chenna Basappa decided to flee across the border seeking refuge with the British, in Mysore. The next decade pitted the Mysore resident Casamajor against Chikka Veera Rajendra, a period which proved to be very turbulent for the Kodagu populace, culminating in a war in 1834, the takeover of Coorg by the British, and much later, into what was known as the long-drawn Coorg Case, in the London courts.
B Surendra Rao studying the many accounts of Coorg concurs in his assessment - The knowledge which the European writings produced on Coorg shows a considerable preference for the description of its despotic, depraved royalty. The Rajas are generally portrayed as mean, cowardly, and cruel, and their licentious criminalities are described with voyeuristic relish. But it is interesting that Lt. Conner and William Jeaffreson were less harsh in their judgment of the rulers than Moegling and Richter who wrote after the annexation….
The Colonial construction of the native rule hugged the logic that the native ruler was everything the colonial ruler was not. The imperialist claim that only morons and monsters were pulled out of their disgraced thrones, produced such portraits as that of Siraj-ud Daula, Tipu Sultan, and Wajid Ali Shah, and the Coorg royalty was no different.
While Casamajor, the resident at Mysore was steadfast in his negative opinion about the king based on heresy reports (and his bad equations with the Raja) of the mass murders in Coorg, Veera Rajendra was miffed that the British, whom his ancestors had wholeheartedly supported in their fight against the Mysore Sultans, were now going against him. Accusations flew back and forth and soon the Kodagu King closed his borders to foreigners. Casamajor then made a formal visit to Coorg, but the meeting was a disaster, the Raja complained to the British and had him recalled to Mysore. Meanwhile, a demand was made by the Raja for the return of his deposit, which the British denied paying, but continued to pay a lower annual interest.
The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the flight of Chikaveera’s sister (also named Devamma) and her husband Chenna Basappa in 1832. It appears that the henchmen of Veer Rajendra put the heir apparent, the Raja’s cousin Devammaji to death, misappropriated her jewels, as well as assassinated seven other women and the son of his sister Devamma. This is not documented or proven. The Gazetteer states that Chenna Basavappa, was a Koduva but had become a Lingayat before his marriage. This Chenna Basavappa, discontented (as he stated later in Mysore) with the tyrannical rule of the Raja, formed a league to dethrone him. Chikka Vira Rajendra getting the scent of evil designs against him, wanted to imprison Chenna Basavappa. But Chenna Basavappa escaped across the frontier with his wife and a few faithful followers and took refuge with the British Resident. During their flight, they killed a few Coorg guards.
Casamajor decided to overlook the murders and provided asylum to the two fugitives of Coorg law and simply refused to send them back to Coorg. The battle of words between the Raja and the resident reached nowhere and the British stood firm, stating that Chikka was in the wrong. They had by now obtained a good reason to take over the Coorg principality, to rescue, as they publicized, the common man from a despotic ruler. Many wild stories were circulated but they were refuted when a Dr. Jefferson from Bombay was deputed to Mercara and found the supposedly dead people very much alive. Gen Welsh added in his report- Before leaving Bombay, several persons residing there, and who had received intelligence that some of their relatives in Coorg had been unjustly and most cruelly put to death by the Rajah, desired me to make inquiries as to the truth of such reports. This I did and it was with the greatest pleasure I obtained the surest proof of the falsehood of such allegations, by the appearance before me, in real flesh and blood, of the very parties who were said to have been so unceremoniously disposed of.
As Martin puts it - His (Veera Rajendra) mind became much disturbed and irritated by the calumnies propagated against him, consisting of the customary allegations of cruelty and misgovernment which usually preceded Indian “Annexations”. To add insult to injury, Messrs. Binny and Co., withheld payment of the yearly interest in 1833 on some of the promissory notes, contrary to usual practice. The Raja was incensed and blocked off Coorg from the outside world, while Casamajor sent away the fugitives to safety in Bangalore.
It was at this point in time that the British deputed two persons to the troubled zone - a civil servant from Madras named Graeme and our man K Karunakara Menon. Graeme never entered Coorg and stayed on the outskirts, whereas Menon, the dependable troubleshooter for the EIC, now pulled out of retirement, initially reported the activities and developments from across the borders, but was promptly arrested by the Raja, as he entered the country. The British demanded that the Raja immediately release Menon or face consequences. Veer Rajendra was meanwhile pressed by his henchmen that he could indeed wage a winning war against the British. For five months, the battle of letters and words continued, and Menon remained under house arrest. While the Raja maintained that Menon was deputed to spy on the Coorg preparations, the British retorted that he was sent as an emissary to try and discuss the matters with the Raja. The Raja reinforced his defenses, and the British prepared to conquer Coorg and displace the Chikka Raja. Casamajor was sent off to manage Travancore.
It is quite clear that Menon was sent to spy and report on the battle preparedness of the Coorg Raja, so let us now see what Menon had to say. A detailed report from Menon had previously been posted by Nick Balmer writing about the incident and linked here.
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Briefly put, Menon reported - Making enquiries of what was going on in Coorg, as well as respecting the Rajah’s hostile intentions and submitted to you under dates the 18th, 20th, 21st and 24th October 1833, reports containing the result of my enquiries and a further memorandum after I joined the Cutcherry at Tellicherry on the 28th of that month….
After a while, he was allowed to enter Coorg - We arrived at Maddakery on the 5th November, from which date I was, without any reason whatever, placed in confinement, and was not released until after a period of five months, just on the 6th April 1834. In the course of the confinement, I had fourteen interviews with the Rajah…
At Madikkare, Menon was lodged in a bungalow with a guard. During his meeting with the Raja, the Raja wanted to know if Graeme was a good person or a deceitful one like Casamajor. Menon asked the Raja to trust Graeme and explained to him that the translations of English letters he had been provided were faulty and were reworded to sound disrespectful. After many meetings, the Raja stated to Menon that he had enough of the British deceit and was willing to wage war if so required. Menon expressed his alarm at that and gave examples of how Veluthampy at Travancore and the Pazhassi Raja at Kottayam had succumbed after threatening the British. He implored the Raja not to plan such extreme actions. The only mention of the Raja's frustration and violent fits is this - On one of these occasions, he halted opposite to the Parboothy Cutcherry about 100 yards distant from the Bungalow in which I was, caused large plantain trees to be cut, had three of them lashed together and with one blow of the crooked knife severed them in two.
During the time that I was confined in the Bungalow namely 4 ½ months, there was no want of anything. The only annoyance we experienced was we being laughed at by the people who daily passed by the Bungalow (which stood near the high road) on their way to and from the fairs and other passengers. The greatest restriction was laid to out walking and speaking to people passing by and to writing.
More details can be found on Nick Balmer’s blog and Prema’s book (in Malayalam), suffice to conclude that the British finally gave a six-day ultimatum to the Raja to release Menon, and with Menon still in confinement, the British invaded Coorg and the Raja surrendered, releasing Menon with many gifts, including an elephant.
On the 4th of April 1834, a flag of truce was sent to the British camp at Harangi from the Raja and on the 6th April, 1834, at 4 PM., the British flag was hoisted in the fort at Mercara. After the English troops entered the Muddakery Fort and hoisted the Flag under a salute, I went to Muddakery ambalom (temple). The story is quite complex and analysis will show deft manipulations from both sides, along the way, with the Koduvas bearing the brunt of the aftermath.
So that was how a Menon from Kalpalli (later living at Ramanattukara), near Calicut, was connected with the precipitation of the Coorg war and its accession by the British. Menon, who was made a Pymash Sheristadar in Malabar after the Pazhassi incident in 1805, had been provided with a 29-pagoda palanquin allowance and this was later adjusted to a land assessment in 1822. He retired, but was recalled for this purpose, especially as he was quite adept at managing to penetrate enemy territory as he had proved in the past, during the Nasik affair. But Menon was mentally affected after this event, adding to the stress from the earlier Pazhassi incident which had been preying on his mind.
The PTSD is evident – as narrated by Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair in his autobiography - When the British acquired the country, a Kottayam Raja refused to submit and waged Guerilla warfare for many years causing great loss to the East India Company in men and money. One Menon who was an agent of the East India Company is supposed to have been responsible for his capture and death. This Menon rose high in the British Service and was deputed afterwards to the Coorg Raja, whom he persuaded to surrender to the East India Company on the assurance that he would not be deprived of his Kingdom. The East India Company however deprived him of his Kingdom and I believe he died afterwards in England. The story goes that Menon’s tarwad is troubled by the Pretas of the Coorg Raja and the Kottayam Raja to the present day, and by his own Preta in their company, as the tarwad had not been able to gain admission for him into the world of fathers or Pithrulokam by appropriate ceremonies or offerings.
A troubled Menon wrote later to the EIC - I am strongly convinced that there are no black marks on my service record under you either. I was incarcerated for five months by the King of Coorg while on your mission there. I had supplied you with intelligence regarding the King's movements on October 18, 20, 24 and 28 in the year 1833. I was imprisoned as I put myself at an extremely vulnerable position defending Gramme during his Madikkara visit. I would like to remind your Highness that despite having several committed soldiers, you have just one who risks his life constantly in the service of the British Empire and that is me. Due to all these reasons, I cultivated plenty of enemies and their tribe just keeps growing with each passing day. This has forced me to carry arms on a regular basis for self-defense, offer free food to Brahmin pilgrims once every year. I also engage in feeding the poor five months in a year and have constructed a structure for the same. With all these in mind, I request the esteemed Empire to kindly declare the land I was gifted with during different instances of my 33 years of service to be tax-free. I also request you to kindly grant me a handsome pension that will take care of the well-being and security of my descendants and me.
After the Coorg incident and his request, his land assessments were adjusted and he was provided with a monthly pension of Rs 350/- per month. Menon’s home and boat were pictured by Gen Welsh who spent some time with him, while in Malabar. A book on Guruvayur cites that a stately lamp post (Deepastambha) at its North entrance had been gifted by Karunakara Menon, in gratitude, to the lord of the temple, after his release from detention by the Raja of Coorg in 1834. Prema Jayakumar, his great grandniece, in her book, explains that this had been replaced by another, larger one, gifted by some other devotee, later. Menon passed away in 1842.
I should now close the story of what happened to Chikka Veera Rajendra. Well, he was first exiled to Bangalore, then Vellore, and finally sent off to Benares where other Rajas were exiled - like the Awadh Raja, the Sattara Raja etc, they were ensconced in large haveli’s, provided pensions, and watched over by British officials appointed to do just that. The Coorg Raja tried to take along with him a lot of gold and jewels (hidden under their clothes) while being led away, but much of it was lost in transit or misappropriated by others. He spent a long period of 14 years with his family, a few wives and daughters at Benares. Eventually, it seems that he converted to Christianity, with his daughter Gauramma and they were allowed to go to Britain in 1852, the purpose being to fight for the Rs 7 lakhs deposit still held by the EIC. The British had viewed it as victors’ spoils and tried their level best to prove that Veera Rajendra had no claims over it. After trying hard for many years and walking in and out of courts in London, Veera Rajendara died in London in 1859.
The study of the case and all the tribulations the Raja faced, can be read in Martin’s account. Unfortunately, the many documented facts presented by Martin in support of the Raja’s character have not been considered by the biographers of the Coorg raja, whose character continues to be as black as one could be, viewed in today’s moral light. The daughter of Veer Rajendra, i.e., Gouramma, was adopted by Queen Victoria, as godmother and christened Victoria Gauramma. Chenna Basappa and Devammaji came back to Coorg and life went on for the Koduvas under the new British masters. Planters arrived, estates were created, and Coorg became the coffee plantation estates.
Along the way, Coorg produced many distinguished officers in the Indian Army, namely Cariappa and Thimayya. Chepudira Ponnappa was one of the four dewans in the court of Chikka Veera Rajendra. K S Thimayya, later India’s chief of Army staff, turns out to be Dewan Ponnappa’s great-great-granddaughter’s son. That he had problems with another Menon is well known, but since it is not so correctly known, I will retell it later.
A few words about Montgomery Martin, the man who stuck his neck out for Veera Rajendra – Robert Montgomery Martin was a historian of the British colonial empire; writing about the East India Company and other subjects. Ever ready to take a public stance on many of the controversial issues of the day, Robert Martin did not go far in his later life. He withdrew to Sutton in Surrey where he became a Justice of the Peace and a magistrate until he died in 1868.
Moegling, the missionary who penned the black character of Veera Rajendra, was financed to collect and translate Kannada records by the same Casamajor, so one can imagine a certain amount of collusion.
Queen Victoria’s involvement and feelings for Indians were enumerated in an earlier article. Her relationship with Duleep Singh and Gauramma is retold by CP Beliappa, in his second book.
Then again, all this is water under the bridge, and as they say, history is usually written by the victor. Eventually, what the Koduvas feel, is how it would remain.
ReferencesAn exposition of British ingratitude, injustice, and breach of national faith to the sovereigns of Coorg - Martin, Robert Montgomery
Karunakara Menonum East India Companiyum – Prema Jayakumar
An account of Coorg and the Coorg mission – Rev H Moegling
Coorg & Its Rajas - anonymous
Sir C Sankaran Nair - Autobiography
Nuggets from Coorg History – CP Beliappa
British paramountcy and Indian renaissance – R.C. Majumdar
Chikkaveera Rajendra – Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (Translation- Padma & Ramachandra Sharma)
Dr Masti and his Chikkaveera Rajendra - Sanganna Kuppast
Conquest through knowledge: a case of the 19th century 'Colonial Coorg' -B. Surendra Rao
Pics – Wikimedia – Thanks and acknowledging the original owners.
