Valluvanad (southern Malabar) - The State - History

History

Valluvanad has a recorded history going back to the days of the Second Chera kingdom or Kulashekhara kingdom. At one point of time the Valluvokonathiri exercised sovereign powers over a considerable portion of South Malabar under the Chera (Kulasekhara) rulers and as an independent state after the Cheras. Valluvanad comprised the whole of the Perinthalmanna taluk, Mannarkkad and Ottapalam taluk and also parts of Ponnani taluk, Tirur taluk and Eranad taluks.

Rajasekharan is the first Valluwanad Raja about whom there are inscriptions.

Konganpada Attacks in the 9th century CE were the attacks of the king of Kongunad to the Nedumpurayoor region (Palakkad) of the Kulasekhara kingdom. But Kongunad army was defeated by combined armies of the Kulasekhara vassals- Nedumpurayoor (Palakkad), Valluvanad, Ernad (later Samoothiri) and Perumpadappu Kingdoms (later Cochin). After the war, in honour the Valluvanad Raja received Kurissi Vilayan Chathanur and Kaithala villages from Nedumpurayoor Kingdom. This event is even now celebrated as a historical event in Chittur taluk where the fighting took place.

In the 10th century, King Vallabhankumaran, son of Rajasekharan, fought Rashtrakuta Ruler Krishna III. The inscriptions of Tiruvattiyur gives the story of Vallabhankumaran renouncing his worldly life and assuming the ascetic order because he could not help his friend Rajaditya Chola who died in the battle of Takkolam in this war.

Mention is made of Rayiran Chathan, the governor of Valluvanad, as a witness in the Jew's Copper Plate ("Joothasasanam") of 1000 CE given to Joseph Rabban by Bhaskara Ravi Varma I, the Chera(Kulasekhara) King of Mahodayapuram.William Logan is of the opinion that Vellaattiri was also not directly under the Chera kings but enjoyed more freedom and rights than other chieftains under them. Valluvanad rulers also of find mention in the Parthivapuram Sasanam and Viraraghavapattayam.

After the end of Kulasekhara kingdom around 1102 CE, right to the Mamankam festival passed to the Perumpadappu kingdom and then to the Valluvakkonathiri (Vellaattiri). When Samoothiri of Calicut became a major force on the western coast, they captured a large portion of Valluvanad and the right of Mamankam was usurped by Samoothiri, when he captured the town in the latter half of the 13th century by Thirunavaya Wars.

Ever since, the elite suicide squad called the Chaver Pada, were dispatched at every Mamankam by Valluvanad to kill the Samoothiri and take back its lost pride though they were quite aware of the impossibility of the task. Most of the Houses in the captured areas accepted only Vellattiri as their legitimate king. Nair houses and kalari had kudippaka (blood feud) against the Zamorin and had lost their members in the wars against him. More deaths meant incitement to the blood feud and new recruits to the suicide squads. To counter the local unrest, the Zamorin followed a custom of 'implanting' Muslim families and the families of other commanders who had allegiance to him, in the captured areas of Malappuram.

The severe and frequent wars on Valluvanad by the Zamorin continued. Even after the loss of his ally Kochi Raja, Vellattiri did not submit to Samoothiri.

By now all that was left to Vellattiri were Attappadi valley, parts of Mannarkkad, Ottapalam and Perinthalmanna. Zamorin invaded these territories but could not make much progress, because these regions were sparsely populated and most parts were dense forests and hills. It was impossible for Zamorins's large army to march forth through these areas. The fights with Vellaattiri's men became more and more difficult for Zamorin. Vellattiri's smaller army in turn made the most of the landscape and successfully kept the armies of Zamorin at bay.

Later during the Mysore invasion, Valluvanad was confined in area,and the Vellattiri sought asylum in Travancore.On the cessation of Malabar to the British by Tipu Sultan, Vellattiri entered into an agreement with the British, and became a pensioner.