Kodagu is often hailed as the land of warriors and kings, but when it comes to forts and palaces, there are not many monuments to be seen. The one palace that stands out is the Nalknad Palace, writes B V Prakash

Though the tiny, but picturesque district of Kodagu is often hailed as the land of warriors and kings, when it comes to forts and palaces built by erstwhile rulers, the monuments seem to be few. 

The one palace that stands out amidst lofty mountains and verdant forests is the Nalknad Palace. Close to the village of Kakkabe near Virajpet, a little deviation from the main road leads to this rather secluded monument which is visited more by passing trekkers heading to climb the Tadiandamol Peak than regular tourists. Its architectural attractions as well as its intriguing history are often missed out. 

And a palace came into view...
At a bend on the way up from Kakkabe, an indication to the left guided me to an open grass field where from amidst the tall trees and shrubs the palace came into view abruptly. It is a very wide two-storeyed structure with white walls and tiled roofs. The main entrance with tall, well-carved wooden doors leads to a sprawling courtyard with the paths lined by flowering plants. As Anand, the caretaker here offered to take me around more facts come to the fore. The small enclosure at the immediate right of the pathway is the Kalyanamantapa, a brick and mortar structure with sculpted decorative figures on its top corners. We walked ahead to the steps leading to the main hall but not before appreciating the finely carved pair of elephants flanking the steps.  

The rooms at the extreme left were once the kitchen and an armoury. The stairs took us to the wide and spacious upper floor. As we entered the king’s room on the left, Anand drew my attention  to the ceiling designs. The uniform box-like depressions with brown red flowery ornamentations suggested the king was a connoisseur of art. He was none other than the valiant Doddaveerarajendra who was instrumental in winning back the kingdom from the clutches of Tipu.

A bone of contention
After the fall of the Vijayanagar empire, a line of Wodeyars successively ruled the hilly terrain of Kodagu. The Mysore rulers Hyder Ali and later his son Tipu had always nurtured a plan to conquer Kodagu. 

During one such attempt in the 1780s, Tipu took the young Prince, Doddaveerarajendra as a prisoner and detained him in Piriyapatna. But the Kodagu soldiers revolted and assisted him to flee from prison and establish his rule at a place called Kurichi. However, his territorial disputes with the Kote Raja of Kerala made the latter burn this palace and kill his family members. At this juncture, Doddaveerarajendra who only had the support of his people, had no option but to seek the help of the British fighting Tipu so that the latter could be kept at bay. 

Built in 1792
While the Anglo-Mysore wars engaged Tipu, the king Dodaveerarajendra developed his territory, ensured a good administration and also built this palace at Nalknad in 1792. 
His soldiers too developed their expertise in guerrilla warfare suited to the hills and thwarted many an attempt to conquer Kodagu. King Doddaveerarajendra once again established his rule in Kodagu. 

Later with the intention of begetting a heir to his throne he married Mahadevammaji in 1796 at the very Kalyanamantapa mentioned earlier. When she too could not bear a son for him, his brother Lingarajendra and after him Chikkaveerarajendra held the rule before being taken over by the British. 

Impressive mural 
Coming back to the present, we admired the series of hexagonal wooden pillars supporting the roof before moving into the queen’s room with an exclusive bath. Here too the ceiling decorated with age old painting still intact caught the eye. We saw four dark rooms at the backyard meant for confining prisoners. At the main hall on the ground floor, the huge mural on the wall is impressive. Named  Royal Procession, the painting depicts the king riding his elephant, surrounded by soldiers and musicians. 

The original paintings are fading under coats of lime wash rendered on them over the years. But the efforts of INTACH ( The Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage) in restoring the paintings by treating the limewash chemically is certainly laudable. Also the palace which till recently was used a bee-keeping centre is now being maintained neatly by the archaeological department.

Madikeri: Antique cairns that have been sighted in a few places in Kodagu have so far remained a mystery. One of the sites where a number of such structures are found is at Doddamalte village, close to the picnic spot of Honnammanakere, in Somwarpet taluk of Kodagu district.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which had conducted a survey of the area a couple of years ago, had concluded them as megalithic burial monuments. These are called cairns. These cairns remain at the ground level or in some cases their tops crop out of the ground a little bit. They resemble a stone chamber about six or seven-foot long, three-and-a-half to four-foot wide and about four to five-foot in height. In some cases, granite pillars raised at four corners are surmounted by a granite slab.

These burial structures, which could date back to 2,500 to 3,000 years, (megalithic period) appear either as solitary structures or in groups or in columns at Doddamalte village. One could surely conclude that human civilisation thrived at that age in Kodagu. However, not much of an effort has gone into the mystery to ascertain what exactly those cairns contained, residents of Doddamalte, who call the spot as “Pandva Pare”, say.

There are two hillocks towards both ends of Honnammanakere, one of the popular picnic spots in Kodagu, near Somwarpet town. The hillock towards left of the Honnammanakere temple has these megalithic burial monuments.

Shivanand, a resident of Somwarpet, says the ASI did take up some kind of survey of the area two years ago, but nothing happened afterwards. The areas had rich deposits of granite. Quarrying took place in one portion of the hillock but it had now stopped, he told The Hindu.

Legend also has it that the Pandavas, celestial heroes of the yore, travelled the place and stayed at the spot by which the name Pandava Pare was derived.

According to another version, people who dug up the Honnammanakere did not get water. Water came in abundance only after human sacrifices were made. Those bodies were buried at Pandava Pare. Whichever theory is correct, the ASI has failed to protect these monuments, including fencing, leave alone ascertaining the facts.

The ASI had two circles in the State, one at Dharwad and another in Bangalore. These monuments came under the purview of the Mysore sub-circle of the ASI.

Similar sites were found at Bavali village in Madikeri taluk ( The Hindu reported it two years ago) and also in some places such as Kedamullur in Virajpet taluk.

According to information gathered here (from the Gazetteer of Coorg), one such cairn was first noticed in Kodagu in 1856 and several others were found near Virajpet in 1868 and also near Fraserpet (now Kushalnagar) later.

The first-ever find of a celt (pre-historic chisel-edged stone tool) or a "stone hatchet," in Karnataka was made in 1868 at the crest of a hill six km north of Mercara (Madikeri) in Coorg (Kodagu), according to the Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), C.B. Patil.

Pazhassi Raja - an artist's view on a laterite wall

As a royal clan, Purannattu Swarupam had three branches, a western branch or Padinjare Kovilakam at Pazhassi near Mattannur, an eastern branch or Kizhakke Kovilakam at Manatana near Peravoor and a southern branch or Tekke Kovilakam at Kottayampoil near Koothuparamba.

Originally the headquarters of this kingdom was based at Muzhakunnu near Mattannur, as they followed a system where the eldest male of the clan became the Raja of the kingdom and chief of whole royal clan. The headquarters was later moved to Kottayampoil or Kottayam, a small town, located 7 k.m. east of Thalassery and Koothuparamba. Thus the name Kottayam came to be identified with this kingdom and her royal clan.

his nephews, Ravi Varma and Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja now took over reins of government. Vira Varma was a skilled in political intrigue and manipulation whereas Ravi Varma was too incompetent to play any serious political role and hence his role only was nominal. Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was only one capable of meeting challenge of foreign threat and he rose to become most powerful figure in Kottayam, much to chargin of his jealous and vengeful uncle Vira Varma. Hence Vira Varma played a series of power games with aim to check growing clout of his nephew. So relations between Vira Varma and Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was one of enmity right from onset.

War on Triple Alliance of Mysore-Coorg-Chirakkal

Military situation was grim for Pazhassi Raja and his troops - in 1774, Coorgs had joined hands with Hyder Ali on promise of being gifted Wynad and a large Coorg army camped in Wynad to help Mysore troops. In 1776, Hyder Ali re-installed Hindu Raja in Chirakkal and latter joined Mysore war effort to crush Pazhassi Raja. This triple alliance which lasted till 1780 reached nowhere near defeating Kottayam army.

Thalasseri or Tellicherry in late 18th century was a harbor-fort which was held by British East India Company as a factory. Value of Tellicherry as a naval base meant that her capture could seriously impact British naval situation in West Coast. Also rebels in North Malabar bought arms and ammunition from British in Tellicherry. So if Hyder could capture this fort, he could in a stroke cripple both rebels in North Malabar as well as British military power at a regional basis.

So in 1778, Hyder’s vassal, the Raja of Chirakkal, besieged Thalasseri and enforced an economic blockade-under orders from Hyder himself. The British factors at Talassery armed Pazhassi Raja’s men to enable them to recover Kottayam from the Mysorean occupation army. This move by the British ensured that the Chirakkal army was now at risk of being struck in the rear by Pazhassi Raja’s force. The Chirakkal troops began to retreat. But Pazhassi chased and devastated the Chirakkal army, and then marched to Kottayam where he obliterated the Mysorean occupation and over-ran all of Western Kottayam. But at this critical moment when the Mysorean army in Malabar could have been destroyed by a joint action on the part of British and the Rajas, the British factors at Talassery were instructed by the Governor not to upset the nominal peace with Hyder. Destruction of Coorg army in Wynad enabled Raja to throw a whole new army into contest at Thalasseri.

In 1780, Pazhassi Raja proposed a plan to the British to break the Mysorean siege of Thalassery: he and his men would strike the enemy in the rear from the east as the British came out of the fort and struck the Mysorean line in front. Both armies would effect a junction that would split the enemy into two. The Mysorean and allied troops could then be routed easily. But it was only in 1781 that the British understood the value of this plan and their Bombay authorities agreed to it. An operation was carried out as per Pazhassi's plan; it ended with the destruction of the Mysorean forces. Sardar Khan himself was killed. What followed was a rebellion in Kottayam by the Nayar militia led by Pazhassi Raja. Soon, the Mysoreans were ousted.

What angered Pazhassi Raja even more was that his brother Ravi Varma who paid visit to Tipu Sultan in 1786 for peace talks was forced to sign a treaty which ceded Wayanad to Tipu Sultan. Pazhassi Raja decided not to let Tipu enjoy Wayanad in peace and kept up a guerrilla warfare that constantly harassed Mysore troops in Wayanad and neighborhood. War in Wayanad lasted for seven years - till 1793 - when the last of Mysore garrisons were expelled from soil of Wayanad.

Pazhassi Raja was disturbed when he heard about the terms which British put forward to Rajas of Malabar in 1792 because British had signed a cowl with him in 1790 which promised to respect independence of Kottayam. The summary of the British terms in 1792 were as follows: