Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi of Thalakulam (1765–1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1802 and 1809 during the reign of Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being one of the earliest individuals to rebel against the British East India Company's authority in India.
Early life Velayudhan Thampi was born in a Nair family to Manakkara Kunju Mayatti Pillai and his wife Valiyamma Pillai Thankachi of Thalakkulam. He was born on 6 May 1765 in the village of Thalakkulam in Travancore which is in the southern district of Travancore State, Kerala (present day Kanyakumari district, Tamilnadu). His full title was "Valiya Veettil Thampi Chempakaraman Velayudhan" being from the family that held the ownership of the province and the high title of Chempakaraman for their services to the modern state created by Maharajah Marthanda Varma. He was the grandson of Ettmar Varma Thampuran of Thattari Kovilakam, Parappanadu Swarupam. Velu Thampi, was appointed a Kariakkar or Tahsildar at Mavelikkara during the initial years of the reign of Maharajah Dharmaraja Ramavarma.
Rise to Dalawaship Bala Rama Varma was one of Travancore's least popular sovereigns whose reign was marked by unrest and various internal and external political problems. He became Rajah at the age of sixteen and fell under the influence of the corrupt nobleman Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri from the Zamorin of Calicut's kingdomp. 288, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. One of the first atrocities during his reign was the deposition, arrest and subsequent poisoning of the much loved Raja Kesavadas,P. Shungunny Menon. History of Travancore. P. 245. the then Dewan of Travancore. In 1799 (974 ME), Thottapaayi Naboothiri of Kingdom of Cochin prevailed on his friend Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri to secretly and freely return Karappuram, which had been conquered by HRH Marthanda Varma, back to Kingdom of Cochinp. 289, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. The proceedings was halted by Raja Kesavadas which was one of the reasons why Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri decided to have him murdered p. 290, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras; subsequently, the Maharjah deposed Raja Kesavadas, and had him put under house arrest where he was found dead in his house. In 1800, after assuming office, the British resident, Col. Macaulay publicly accused the Nampoothiri of this murder and had him brought before a court of enquiry conducted by Travancore- but the Colonel found that "more no solicitude was shown to avoid rather than effect discovery"p. 418, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. Sankaran Nampoothiri was subsequently appointed Dewan/Dalawa (Prime Minister) and was assisted by two other equally corrupt ministers - Thuckalay Shankaranarayanan Chetty and Matthoo Tharakanp. 418, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. The first act of the ministry was to confiscate all assets of the former, murdered Dalawa, right up to the last ornament worn by his partner p. 418, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. Subsequently, the state treasury, which had been full during the tenure of the former Dalawap. 362, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras was soon empty due to corruption, so the ministers decided to collect money by ordering the tahsildars (district officers) to pay large amounts of money. The amounts of money to be paid were determined without any reference to the revenue of the districts. Corporal punishment was inflicted on the nobles who were unwilling/unable to pay the money.
Velu Thampi, the Tahasildar(Karyakar) of a southern district, was ordered to pay 20,000 Panams (equivalent to Rs. 3000) to which he responded that he needed three days to payp. 294, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. Velu Thampi then returned to his district, gathered the people of Nanjanad and an uprising ensued. The ministry sent orders for his arrest, which had the opposite effectpage 295, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras as people from all parts of Travancore armed themselves and united to surround the palace and demand the immediate dismissal and banishment of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri. They also demanded that his two ministers (Matthoo Tharakan, Sankaranarayanan Chetty) be brought to a public place then undergo flogging and have their ears cut off and that odious taxes such as the salt tax would be abolished. The punishments were duly carried out on 6th of Mithunam 974 ME with Tharakan jailed at Trivandrum and Sankaranarayan at Udayagiri Fortpage 419, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. A local nobleman, Aiyyappan Chempakaraman Pillai of Chirayinkeezhu was appointed as the Dalawa (Prime Minister) and Velu Thampi was appointed the commerce ministerpage 296, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. The former was an able administrator but passed away in 1801 (976 ME) and another nobleman, Padmanabhan Chempakaraman Pillai of Parassala was appointed Dalawapage 297, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. Padmanabhan Chempakaraman Pillai was weak and corrupt and was dismissed after a mere 8 months in powerpage 420, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. Courtiers of the Maharajah such as Samprathi Kunjilam Pillai, Valiya Meleluthu Muthu Pillai and Stanapathi Subba Iyyer, all put forward Velu Thampi's name for the post of the Dalawa. In addition, two other nobles, the brother and the nephew of the murdered Raja Kesavadas, Chempakaraman Kumaran Thambi and Erayimman, too applied for the post of the Dalawapage 297, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. Allegedly forged documents, putting the latter two in a bad light, were presented to the Raja by Samprathi Kunjilam Pillaipage 298, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras which resulted in the execution of Chempakaraman Kumaran Thambi and Erayimman and their friends, by the Raja's palace guardspage 420, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Presspage 2999, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. In 1801, Velu Thampi was appointed the Dalawa of Travancore with the blessings of the British resident, Colin MacaulayP. Shungunny Menon. Thiruvithancore Charitram. (History of Travancore). Page 245-251.
Career as Dalawa
The Madras Government sanctioned Thampi's appointment within a few months. Within three years of the death of Raja Kesavadas the country was plagued with corruption and various problems caused by the banished Namboodiri Dalawa and the treasury was empty.
Velu Thampi resorted to drastic measures to improve the situationpage 301, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. Velu Thampi was very strict regarding enforcing justice and depended on dread to enforce his rule. He would tour different areas of the kingdom and enforce justice using strict methods. Justice was enforced on the very day of the trials and those found guilty were hanged on the branches of very tree under which the trial had taken place. In the words of V. Nagam Aiya, "Strict honesty was thus barbarously enforced. The race of thieves became extinct." Burglary and robbery was totally eradicated and the public, regardless of gender, could use the roads at any time of the day or night without fearpage 421, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. Flogging, cutting off of ears and noses as well as nailing people to trees were some of the punishments adopted during his term as Dalawa. Stealing and lock picking resulted in amputations, attacks on women were punished with beheadingpage 301, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. At times, Thampi would carry out collective punishment to attain justice - an example is quoted by V. Nagam Aiya where the Dalawa, who had completed his duties for the day, had set aside his personal time and rushed all the way from Thiruvananthapuram on receiving the complaint from a Namboothiri who had been robbed at Edava. The Dalawa had three random Marakkar of the village executed by nailing them to very the tree under which he had carried out the court of enquiry and this resulted in the rest of the village returning the missing gold which had been robbed by a few individuals of the villagepage 421-422, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. Velu Thampi was totally impartial when it came to punishing corruption - A high ranking civil servant, P. Shankunni Menon, cites an incident when a relative of Thampi had his hand amputated for trying to illegally take possession of the land of a less influential member of the society belonging to the Nadar (caste) by forging the title deeds- despite the kinship or the entreaties of his own mother to spare his high ranking relative, Velu Thampi had the sentence carried out and had the land restored to the original ownerpage 302-303, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras. The harsh measures produced results and justice and order were restored within a year of Velu Thampi's accession to the Dalawashippage 306, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras.
Velu Thampi was an able administrator. He carried out surveys of land, issued new title deeds (pattayam) to land owners. This led to increase in revenue from taxes. He was able to pay off the arrears in salaries to all government staff and improved the financial position of the state. He improved towns such as Kollam and Alappuzha, built markets, roads and palaces and gave all support to the commercial developmentpage 422, The Travancore State Manual, V. Nagam Aiya, 1906, The Travancore Government Press. His abilities were noted even by the Governor General Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley who had presented him with valuable shawls, gold clothing and kincob in accordance to the formality accorded to rajas in British Indiapage 305, A History of Travancore, author P Shungoonnoy Menon, Dewan Peischar of Travancore, 1878, published by Higginbotham and Co, Madras.