Forest Forts of Pazhassi Raja
In his decades long war to oust invaders, Rajah developed an elaborate system of cantonments and forts in jungly and mountainous part of his country.
Four of them are most important - granite fort on Purali range which was built by his ancestor Harischandra Perumal over a thousand years ago. He had another granite fort at Manatana. In Wynad, he had a great fort in Mananthavady which was reported to have ability to house his whole army of 6000 men. He also had a stronghold in Todikulam near Kannavam which belonged to his supporter Kannavath Sankaran.
Of all his strong-holds, none survive today. Only ruins of Purali fort survive today. It is today a heap of granite boulders. Only a tank still survive today. A nearby black-stone cave where Raja once lived can still be found.
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Famous quotes containing the words forest and/or forts:
“How old the world is! I walk between two eternities.... What is my fleeting existence in comparison with that decaying rock, that valley digging its channel ever deeper, that forest that is tottering and those great masses above my head about to fall? I see the marble of tombs crumbling into dust; and yet I don’t want to die!”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall!”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)