Muhammed Yusuf Khan
Encyclopedia
Muhammad Yusuf Khan or Maruthanayagam (Marudhanayagam) Pillai was born in Pannaiyur, Ramanathapuram District
, Tamil Nadu
, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior
in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company
troops. The British
and the Arcot Nawab used him to suppress the Polygars (Palayakkarar) in the south of Tamilnadu. Later he was entrusted to administrating the Madurai country when the Madurai Nayaks rule ended.
Later a dispute arose with the British and Arcot Nawab, and three of his associates were bribed to capture Yusuf Khan; he was hanged in 1764 in Madurai.
farming family of the Pillai
Vellala
caste. Being too restless in his youth, he left his native village, and converted to Islam
. To make a living, he served as a domestic hand at the residence of the French Governor Monsr Jacques Law in Pondicherry. It was here he befriended another French, Marchand (a subordinate of Jacques Law), who later became captain of the French force under Yusuf Khan in Madurai. Whether Yusuf Khan was dismissed from this job or left on his own is unclear now. He left Pondicherry, for Tanjore and joined the Tanjorean army as a sepoy
(foot soldier).
(in present day Andhra Pradesh), to try his hand as a native physician under Mohammed Kamal, in addition to his career in the army. He moved up the ranks as Thandalgar (tax collector), Havildar and finally as a Subedar and that is how he is referred to in the English records ('Nellore Subedar' or just 'Nellore'). He later enlisted under Chanda Sahib
who was then the Nawab of Arcot. While staying in Arcot he fell in love with a 'Portuguese' Christian (a loose term for a person of mixed Indo-European descent) girl named Maasa (?Marsha /?Marcia), and married her.
, (who was the son of the previous Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan
hence the rightful claimant) and Chanda Sahib
his relative and a pretender, for the throne of Arcot. The former sought the help of British and the latter the French. Chanda Sahib
initially succeeded and became the Nawab, forcing Muhammed Ali to escape to the rock-fort in Tiruchirapalli. Chanda Sahib
followed and with the help of the French, besieged Trichy. Muhammed Ali and the English force supporting him were in a grim position. Ensign Robert Clive, (who had earlier joined the East India Company as a writer) with a small English force of 300 soldiers made a diversionary attack on Arcot to draw away Chanda Sahib's army from Trichy. Chanda Sahib
dispatched a 10,000 strong force under his son Raza Sahib to retake Arcot. Raza Sahib was aided by the Nellore Army and Yusuf Khan as a Subedar must have been in this force. At Arcot, and later at Kaveripakkam
, Chanda Sahib’s son was badly defeated by Robert Clive, and it was now Chanda Sahib
's turn to escape to Tanjore where he was killed by Mankoji, a Tanjorean general. The English quickly installed Muhammed Ali as the Nawab of Arcot and most of Chanda Sahib
's native forces defected to the English.
. He became a mercenary and fought alongside the French in the siege of Arcot in 1751. Robert Clive, impressed by the charges Yusuf Khan led against the battlements of Arcot, recruited him — and Yusuf Khan put his Nellore sepoys and cavalry at the disposal of the English.
Under Major Stringer Lawrence
, Yusuf Khan was trained in the European method of warfare and his natural talent in military tactics and strategy blossomed to its full potential.
Over the next decade, as the Company fought the French in the Wars of the Carnatic, it was Yusuf Khan's guerrilla tactics, repeatedly cutting the French lines of supply, that did the French in, particularly during Lally's siege of Madras in 1758. Lally was to later describe the role of the Nellore Subedar's sepoys in these words: "They were like flies, no sooner beat off from one part, they came from another."
By 1760 Yusuf Khan had reached the zenith of his career as the 'all-conquering' military commandant. (A few years earlier he had been given the rank of 'Commandant of Company's sepoys'). His greatest supporter during this period was George Pigot, the English governor in Madras. Yusuf Khan was held in very high esteem even after his death by the English and in their opinion he was one of the two great military geniuses India had ever produced; the other being Hyder Ali
of Mysore. Yusuf Khan was regarded for his strategy and Hyder Ali for his speed. Major General Sir. John Malcolm
said of him almost a fifty years later,"Yusuf Khan was by far the bravest and ablest of all the native soldiers ever to serve the English in India".
, the son of Dost Ali Khan
, the Nawab of Arcot with a couple of millions, while the queen sought Chanda Sahib, Safdar Ali Khan's brother-in-law.
At this time the Madurai Nayak ruler was a feudatory to the Mughal emperor in Delhi
, whose local representative was the Nawab of Arcot, and an intermediate authority was held by the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was in theory the subordinate of the emperor, but the superior of the Nawab. The treacherous Chanda Sahib after extracting a huge amount from the queen humbled Vangaru Tirumala and later murdered him. After a few years Chanda Sahib breached the agreement with the queen and assumed control of Madurai, keeping the helpless Queen Meenakshi under house- arrest in the rock-fort at Trichy. The haples queen soon consumed poison. After the death of Chanda sahib in the last of the Carnatic wars, Madurai kingdom came under Mohammed Ali's (the incumbent Nawab of Arcot) control, who in turn gave the tax collection rights of the whole Madura kingdom to the British, from whom he had borrowed huge sums of money.
The polygar system had evolved with the extension of Vijayanagar rule to Tamil Nadu by the Nayaks
. It was the brain-child of Aryanatha Mudaliar (Thalavaai Mudaliar), the celebrated Tamil general and prime minister of Viswanatha Nayak, the first Nayak ruler of Madurai. The country was divided into provinces or Palayams . Each palayam usually consisting of a few villages, was placed under the control of a Palayakkaran (Polygar or Poligar as mentioned in the English records) who was expected to provide in return, an annual tribute and military service to the Madurai ruler. Given their numerical strength, extensive resources, local influence and independent attitude, the Polygars came to constitute a powerful force in the political system of south India
. They regarded themselves as independent, sovereign authorities within their respective Palayam
s. The early struggle between the southern Polygars and the East India Company, although essentially a battle over tax collection, had a strong political dimension. The English perceived the polygars as a rival power and treated them as their inveterate enemies, allowing their hostility full expression in their accounts. The East India Company
, eager for revenue, opposed the manner and scale in which the Polygars collected taxes from the people. The issue of taxation, more specifically, who was to collect it, the traditional rulers or the rapacious new collectors from overseas —lay at the root of the subsequent uprising.
The Polygars from Tirunelveli, Madurai regions and Sivaganga
and Ramnad, were unwilling to pay taxes (kappam or Kist) to Mohammed Ali, a weak Nawab, nor ever recognized the British in the guise of tax collector. In 1755 the Nawab and British having valid reasons to quell these rebellious Polygars dispatched a huge army to the south under Col. Heron and Arcot Nawabs brother Mahfuz Khan, accompanied by Yusuf Khan as bodyguard. Mahfuz Khan and Col. Heron burnt several villages and razed down several temples, then ransacked and looted lot of towns, melting several rare statues from Hindu temples. This infuriated Yusuf Khan, who lodged a complaint with the British. Later Col. Heron was courtmarshalled.
During this time the French under Thomas Arthur Lally surrounded the British fort in Madras. Yusuf Khan during the night launched a surprise attack on the French troops packing them away.
After assuming control of Madurai, the results were small. Disturbances still prevailed every where, the Kallars ravaged the country in every direction, the Hyder Ali, the soldier of fortune, who was in Madura and was with difficulty beaten off, and no revenue worth mentioning could be collected. The British tried in vain to induce the Nawab of Arcot to recall his brother, Mahfuz Khan, who was undoubtedly the cause of all the trouble, and soon afterwards to meet their needs elsewhere; compelled them to withdraw Muhammad Yusuf. His departure was the signal for wilder anarchy than ever. The company's garrison in Madura could only just collect, from the country directly under its walls, enough revenue to support themselves; on the north the Kallans, and in the south Mahfuz Khan had thrown himself into the arms of the principal Polygars and was beyond the reach of argument or reason.
, a polygar of Nerkattumseval(Original Name was Nelkettaanseval) , a small town to the south-west of Madurai. Puli Thevar was rebelling against the Nawab and the British. Yusuf Khan(marudhanayagam) quickly separated Travancore Raja from Puli Thevar's group after entering into an agreement. Also to be remembered is that the Travancore Raja’s were long time feudatories of the Madurai Nayak kings, naturally becoming a feudatory to Delhi.
Yusuf Khan captured several of Puli Thevar's forts which were earlier tried unsuccessfully by the British. Later in a battle Puli Thevar was captured by Yusuf Khan, however Puli Thevar escaped in Sankarankovil (Is believed to be disappeared in Sankarankovil Gomathi Ambal Sanathi) where he was planned to be hanged. Puli Thevar remains a legend in the area and no further details about him is available.(Puli Thevan is today recognized by the Government of Tamil Nadu
as a freedom fighter). Also during this time the Dutch
captured the town of Alwartirunagari, to which Yusuf Khan retaliated and chasing them back to their ships.
Alagumuthu Kon
, another rebel leader was also captured at Perunaalli Forests by Yusuf Khan and mercilessly killed by blowing him from the Mouth of cannon. AlaguranmuthuDevar cane to limelight in 1962 through a Communist magazine”Thamarai”(Lotus), and in 1995 his statue was opened at Egmore
, Chennai
.These brutal and savage acts instilled fear among other Polygars, who naturally pacified before the British. He even, had the audacity to make war on the king of Travancore
without the knowledge or consent of the company.
In 1761, and again in 1762, he offered to lease Tinnevelly and Madura for four years more at seven lakhs per annum. His offer was refused, and whether he was enraged at this, or whether he thought himself powerful enough to defy his masters, he shortly afterwards threw off his allegiance and began to collect
troops in an ambition to be the lord of Madurai.
Around this time some British traders reported (or rumored), to the Nawab and the Company, on Yusuf Khan” as encouraging people with anti-British sentiments, spending vast sums on his troops”.Nawab, in turn with the British sent Capt. Manson with orders to arrest Yusuf Khan.
Meanwhile Yusuf Khan sent a note to Sivaganga
Zamindari reminding them on their pending Tax arrears.Sivaganga
’s Minister and General came to meet Yusuf Khan in Madurai
, and after not getting their expected respect, got a rude warning, citing annexure of certain territories for the failure of arrears. The enraged Sivaganga Zamindar, immediately ordered Yusuf Khan to be “captured and hanged as like a dog”. Meanwhile and Ramnad Zamin’s general Damodar Pillai and Thandavarayan Pillai met the Arcot Nawab in Trichy,complained on Yusuf Khan’s plunderings of Sivaganga villages, his cannon manufacturing plant in association with a certain French
Marchaud, whom he a befriended earlier, with plans for a war against the Nawabs.
Arcot Nawab and the British quickly acted by amassing a huge army. For a start they aroused Travancore
Raja against Yusuf Khan (As by now the Travancore state fell smoothly into British charms).In the ensuring battle the Travancore raja was defeated and the British flags in his domains were chopped and burnt, and joined hands with the French and also hoisted the French flag on the Madura Fort.
When Governor Saunders in Madras(now Chennai) called Khan Sahib for a meeting, he refused evoking the wrath of the East India Company
. By now Delhi’s shah and Nizam Ali of Hyderabad, the Arcot Nawab’s overlords proclaimed Yusuf Khan as the rightful legal governor of Madurai
and Tirunelveli
regions. While Arcot Nawab along with the British was hell bent on finding a reason to capture and kill Yusuf Khan.
Meanwhile the Nizam Ali of Hyderabad once again proclaimed Yusuf Khan as the Rightful governor, while the Arcot Nawab and the British issued death sentence for Yusuf Khan as “to be captured alive and hanged before the first known tree as like a dog”.
and Monkey
meat according to European sources) but held on with great energy and skill, renovating and strengthening the fort at great expense, and repelling the chief assault with a loss of 120 Europeans (including nine officers) killed and wounded. At the end of that time little real progress against him had been made, except that the place was now rigorously blockaded.
Meanwhile the Arcot Nawab consulted Sivaganga General Thaandavaraaya Pillai, along with Major Charles Campbell, hatching a treacherous plot to bribe Yusuf khan’s Dewan Srinivasa Rao, Marchand the captain of the French mercenaries and Khan’s doctor Baba Sahib. One morning, when Yusuf Khan was offering his prayers inside the fort, Marchand, Srinivasa Rao and Baba sahib went in quietly and pinned Yusuf Khan to the ground and tied him up using his own turban. Hearing this commotion, one youth called Mudali, close to Yusuf Khan, raised an alarm. He was quickly caught and cut down. As the news of the coup reached Yusuf Khan's wife, she rushed to the scene with a small posse of troops. But they were helpless against the well armed French and other European mercenaries, standing guard around the fallen ruler. Under cover of darkness and an even darker veil of secrecy, Marchand whisked away Yusuf Khan out of the fort and handed him over to Major Charles Campbell, who commanded the English among the besiegers. Unfortunately, the major part of Yusuf Khan's native forces remained totally unaware of the fateful drama that had been enacted inside his house, that morning.
The next day, in the evening of 15 October 1764, near the army camp at Sammattipuram, on the Madurai- Dindigul road, Yusuf Khan was ignominiously hanged as a rebel by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah
, the Nawab of Arcot. This place is about two miles to the west of Madura, known as Dabedar Chandai (Shandy), and his body was buried at the spot.
What motives forced the three main conspirators, who were Yusuf Khan's close confidantes, to betray him? It is said that Yusuf Khan had once flogged Marchand with a whip (the first time a European officer had been whipped by a native ruler) and so he was waiting for an opportune time to take revenge. It is also possible that extreme misery of the people and soldiers inside the fort (because of the prolonged siege) might have forced the Dewan Srinivasa Rao and Baba Sahib, the physician of Yusuf Khan to decide that handing Yusuf Khan over to the English, would make them lift the siege and relieve the people of their intense agony and suffering. They might have imagined that Yusuf Khan would be sentenced to brief imprisonment and/or fine as punishment and let off later on.
A sepoy guarding the Body of Yusuf Khan previous night reported to the Arcot Nawab, that Yusuf Khan appeared in his dream intending to return on the third day after his death and capture Madurai. The agitated Nawab ordered his men to chop his body into several parts and place them all over his domains. As went his Head to Trichinopoly alias Tiruchirappalli alias Trichy, arms to Palayamkottai
, legs to Tanjore and Travancore
for public viewing later buried at Periyakulam
city near Madurai, to instilling caution and fear, later buried there. The remaining body was buried at Madurai
.
In 1808, a small square mosque was erected over the tomb in Samattipuram, in Madurai, which exists to this day on the left of the road to Dindigul
, a little beyond the toll-gate, known as 'Khan Sahib's pallivasal'.
At the time of his death, Yusuf Khan had a son, who must have been 2 or 3 years old. Yusuf Khan's wife Maasa and the little boy vanished from history after the hanging. They might have escaped to Tirunelveli (?Alwarthirunagari) or Travancore
.
The descendants of Baba Sahib, Yusuf Khan's physician, live around Krishnan Koil in Virudhunagar District. They still practise native medicine and bone-setting.
The Madurai fort, which Yusuf Khan had defended so passionately during the two sieges in 1763 and 1764 was pulled down in end of the nineteenth century. His lodgement according to the French map, must have been on, what is now called, Khansa Mettu Street (Khan sahib mettu theru is converted as Khansa Mettu theru).
The fort in Palayamkottai
, he had repaired and used so well during his earlier wars with the poligars, was dismantled in the middle of the nineteenth century. Only parts of the western bastion, (now housing "Medai Police Station" ), the eastern bastion (now housing the Tirunelveli Museum) and a few short segments of the eastern wall are remaining.
interests in India'--which was republished in Madras in 1867. This says that in Tinnevelly and Madura 'his whole administration denoted vigour and effect. His justice was unquestioned, his word unalterable; his measures were happily combined and firmly executed, the guilty had no refuge from punishment.' It concludes by saying that 'wisdom, vigour and integrity, of no climate or complexion have surpassed his.'
some years back started shooting the movie Maruthanayagam portraying this character in English
, French
, and Tamil
languages. But the film was stopped for the time being or almost dropped mainly because of the protest from sangh parivar
since Yusuf Khan sahib is a muslim freedom fighter.
Ramanathapuram District
Ramanathapuram District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Ramanathapuram is the district headquarters. Ramanthapuram District has an area of 4123 km²...
, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
troops. The British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and the Arcot Nawab used him to suppress the Polygars (Palayakkarar) in the south of Tamilnadu. Later he was entrusted to administrating the Madurai country when the Madurai Nayaks rule ended.
Later a dispute arose with the British and Arcot Nawab, and three of his associates were bribed to capture Yusuf Khan; he was hanged in 1764 in Madurai.
Early years
Maruthanayagam (or Mathuranayagam ) alias Yusuf Khan was born circa 1725 in the village of Panaiyur, in Rammnad 'country' in a HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
farming family of the Pillai
Pillai (community)
Pillai is a Tamil speaking community from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are a landowning upper caste, feudal community.-Origin of Vellalar:...
Vellala
Vellala
Vellala is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is near the town of Proddutur in the Kadapa District.The village got its name from the locally famous "Vellala sanjevaraswami ", a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman....
caste. Being too restless in his youth, he left his native village, and converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. To make a living, he served as a domestic hand at the residence of the French Governor Monsr Jacques Law in Pondicherry. It was here he befriended another French, Marchand (a subordinate of Jacques Law), who later became captain of the French force under Yusuf Khan in Madurai. Whether Yusuf Khan was dismissed from this job or left on his own is unclear now. He left Pondicherry, for Tanjore and joined the Tanjorean army as a sepoy
Sepoy
A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...
(foot soldier).
Education & early career
Around this time, an English Captain named Brunton educated Yusuf Khan, making him a learned man well-versed in several languages. From Tanjore he moved to NelloreNellore
Nellore , is a city and headquarters of Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District, formerly Nellore district.And in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Ancient name of Nellore was "Vikrama Simhapuri"....
(in present day Andhra Pradesh), to try his hand as a native physician under Mohammed Kamal, in addition to his career in the army. He moved up the ranks as Thandalgar (tax collector), Havildar and finally as a Subedar and that is how he is referred to in the English records ('Nellore Subedar' or just 'Nellore'). He later enlisted under Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
who was then the Nawab of Arcot. While staying in Arcot he fell in love with a 'Portuguese' Christian (a loose term for a person of mixed Indo-European descent) girl named Maasa (?Marsha /?Marcia), and married her.
Carnatic wars
In 1751, there was an ongoing scuffle between Muhammed Ali Khan WallajahMuhammed Ali Khan Wallajah
Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was the Nawab of Arcot in India and an ally of the British East India Company. Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was born to Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan, by his second wife, Fakhr un-nisa Begum Sahiba, was a niece of Sayyid Ali Khan Safavi ul-Mosawi of Persia, sometime Naib suba...
, (who was the son of the previous Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan
Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan
Muhammad Anwaruddin was the 1st Nawab of Arcot of the second Dynasty. He was a major figure during the Second Carnatic War.He was a direct descendant of Hazarath Omar, the Second Caliph of Islam . Nawab Anwaruddin Khan was born at Gopamau, a place in Hardoi District, United Provinces, India in...
hence the rightful claimant) and Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
his relative and a pretender, for the throne of Arcot. The former sought the help of British and the latter the French. Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
initially succeeded and became the Nawab, forcing Muhammed Ali to escape to the rock-fort in Tiruchirapalli. Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
followed and with the help of the French, besieged Trichy. Muhammed Ali and the English force supporting him were in a grim position. Ensign Robert Clive, (who had earlier joined the East India Company as a writer) with a small English force of 300 soldiers made a diversionary attack on Arcot to draw away Chanda Sahib's army from Trichy. Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
dispatched a 10,000 strong force under his son Raza Sahib to retake Arcot. Raza Sahib was aided by the Nellore Army and Yusuf Khan as a Subedar must have been in this force. At Arcot, and later at Kaveripakkam
Kaveripakkam
Kaveripakkam is a panchayat town in Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Demographics: India census, Kaveripakkam had a population of 12,514. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Kaveripakkam has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of...
, Chanda Sahib’s son was badly defeated by Robert Clive, and it was now Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
's turn to escape to Tanjore where he was killed by Mankoji, a Tanjorean general. The English quickly installed Muhammed Ali as the Nawab of Arcot and most of Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib
Chanda Sahib was the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan. He was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan. He belonged the Muslim Nait community which had ruled the Carnatic under the Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan...
's native forces defected to the English.
Establishment of military career
Yusuf Khan's military career started during the Carnatic WarsCarnatic Wars
The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century on the Indian subcontinent...
. He became a mercenary and fought alongside the French in the siege of Arcot in 1751. Robert Clive, impressed by the charges Yusuf Khan led against the battlements of Arcot, recruited him — and Yusuf Khan put his Nellore sepoys and cavalry at the disposal of the English.
Under Major Stringer Lawrence
Stringer Lawrence
Major-General Stringer Lawrence was an English soldier, the first Commander-in-Chief, India, sometimes regarded as the "Father of the Indian Army"....
, Yusuf Khan was trained in the European method of warfare and his natural talent in military tactics and strategy blossomed to its full potential.
Over the next decade, as the Company fought the French in the Wars of the Carnatic, it was Yusuf Khan's guerrilla tactics, repeatedly cutting the French lines of supply, that did the French in, particularly during Lally's siege of Madras in 1758. Lally was to later describe the role of the Nellore Subedar's sepoys in these words: "They were like flies, no sooner beat off from one part, they came from another."
By 1760 Yusuf Khan had reached the zenith of his career as the 'all-conquering' military commandant. (A few years earlier he had been given the rank of 'Commandant of Company's sepoys'). His greatest supporter during this period was George Pigot, the English governor in Madras. Yusuf Khan was held in very high esteem even after his death by the English and in their opinion he was one of the two great military geniuses India had ever produced; the other being Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
of Mysore. Yusuf Khan was regarded for his strategy and Hyder Ali for his speed. Major General Sir. John Malcolm
John Malcolm
Major-general Sir John Malcolm was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian-Early life:Born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire, Malcolm was the son of George Malcolm, a gentleman farmer of Eskdale and Burnfoot. Jock, as he was then known, was one of the four Malcolm brothers who attained knighthoods...
said of him almost a fifty years later,"Yusuf Khan was by far the bravest and ablest of all the native soldiers ever to serve the English in India".
Control of Madurai
Going back to 1734, when the Madurai Nayak King Vijaya Ranga Chokkanatha Nayak died in 1731, he was succeeded by his widow, Queen Meenakshi, who acted as Queen-Regent on behalf of a young boy she had adopted as the heir of her dead husband. She had only ruled a year or two when an insurrection was raised against her by Bangaru Thirumalai, the father of her adopted son, who pretended to have claims of his own to the throne of Madurai approached Safdar Ali KhanSafdar Ali Khan
Safdar Ali Khan was the son of Dost Ali Khan. After the death of his father in the battlefield at Ambur in 1740, he escaped to Vellore. In the same year, he was recognised as the Nawab of the Carnatic by the British....
, the son of Dost Ali Khan
Dost Ali Khan
Ali Dost Khan, often referred to as Dost Ali Khan by most historians, was Nawab of the Carnatic from 1732 to 1740. He was the son of Ghulam Ali Khan, brother of the Nawab Saadatullah Khan. His childless uncle adopted him as heir, and he succeeded his uncle in 1732.Dost Ali Khan had two sons, Safdar...
, the Nawab of Arcot with a couple of millions, while the queen sought Chanda Sahib, Safdar Ali Khan's brother-in-law.
At this time the Madurai Nayak ruler was a feudatory to the Mughal emperor in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, whose local representative was the Nawab of Arcot, and an intermediate authority was held by the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was in theory the subordinate of the emperor, but the superior of the Nawab. The treacherous Chanda Sahib after extracting a huge amount from the queen humbled Vangaru Tirumala and later murdered him. After a few years Chanda Sahib breached the agreement with the queen and assumed control of Madurai, keeping the helpless Queen Meenakshi under house- arrest in the rock-fort at Trichy. The haples queen soon consumed poison. After the death of Chanda sahib in the last of the Carnatic wars, Madurai kingdom came under Mohammed Ali's (the incumbent Nawab of Arcot) control, who in turn gave the tax collection rights of the whole Madura kingdom to the British, from whom he had borrowed huge sums of money.
The polygar system had evolved with the extension of Vijayanagar rule to Tamil Nadu by the Nayaks
Nayak (ethnic group)
-History and origin:The word nayak means a head of a regiment. This word is derived from the Sanskrit senanayaka, which means head of a regiment. The community trace there descent from the Vaghela Rajputs who converted to Islam in the 12th Century. They established a number of petty states in...
. It was the brain-child of Aryanatha Mudaliar (Thalavaai Mudaliar), the celebrated Tamil general and prime minister of Viswanatha Nayak, the first Nayak ruler of Madurai. The country was divided into provinces or Palayams . Each palayam usually consisting of a few villages, was placed under the control of a Palayakkaran (Polygar or Poligar as mentioned in the English records) who was expected to provide in return, an annual tribute and military service to the Madurai ruler. Given their numerical strength, extensive resources, local influence and independent attitude, the Polygars came to constitute a powerful force in the political system of south India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. They regarded themselves as independent, sovereign authorities within their respective Palayam
Palayam
Palayam is a panchayat town in Dindigul district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Demographics:As of 2001 India census, Palayam had a population of 14,096. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Palayam has an average literacy rate of 45%, lower than the national average of...
s. The early struggle between the southern Polygars and the East India Company, although essentially a battle over tax collection, had a strong political dimension. The English perceived the polygars as a rival power and treated them as their inveterate enemies, allowing their hostility full expression in their accounts. The East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, eager for revenue, opposed the manner and scale in which the Polygars collected taxes from the people. The issue of taxation, more specifically, who was to collect it, the traditional rulers or the rapacious new collectors from overseas —lay at the root of the subsequent uprising.
The Polygars from Tirunelveli, Madurai regions and Sivaganga
Sivaganga
Sivaganga, also known as Sivagangai, is a town and a municipality in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Sivaganga district.-Geography:...
and Ramnad, were unwilling to pay taxes (kappam or Kist) to Mohammed Ali, a weak Nawab, nor ever recognized the British in the guise of tax collector. In 1755 the Nawab and British having valid reasons to quell these rebellious Polygars dispatched a huge army to the south under Col. Heron and Arcot Nawabs brother Mahfuz Khan, accompanied by Yusuf Khan as bodyguard. Mahfuz Khan and Col. Heron burnt several villages and razed down several temples, then ransacked and looted lot of towns, melting several rare statues from Hindu temples. This infuriated Yusuf Khan, who lodged a complaint with the British. Later Col. Heron was courtmarshalled.
During this time the French under Thomas Arthur Lally surrounded the British fort in Madras. Yusuf Khan during the night launched a surprise attack on the French troops packing them away.
Sent to Madurai
In 1756, March Yusuf Khan was sent to Madurai to collect taxes and restore order. But during that time Madurai was under control of one Barkadthullah of Chanda Sahib days, with the support of Hyder Ali of Mysore. During this time an old Fakir climbed the top of the Madurai Meenakshi Temple and was preparing to build a dargah for himself, which angered the locals. Barkadthullah justifying the Fakirs attempts further added fuel to the fire. During this time Yusuf Khan arrived with little as 400 troops to take control of Madurai, showing his brilliance in defeating Barkadthullah’s large army, with Barkadthullah fleeing to Sivaganga Zamin and the Fakir, got whacked out of the town.After assuming control of Madurai, the results were small. Disturbances still prevailed every where, the Kallars ravaged the country in every direction, the Hyder Ali, the soldier of fortune, who was in Madura and was with difficulty beaten off, and no revenue worth mentioning could be collected. The British tried in vain to induce the Nawab of Arcot to recall his brother, Mahfuz Khan, who was undoubtedly the cause of all the trouble, and soon afterwards to meet their needs elsewhere; compelled them to withdraw Muhammad Yusuf. His departure was the signal for wilder anarchy than ever. The company's garrison in Madura could only just collect, from the country directly under its walls, enough revenue to support themselves; on the north the Kallans, and in the south Mahfuz Khan had thrown himself into the arms of the principal Polygars and was beyond the reach of argument or reason.
Once again in Madurai
The Company accordingly sent back Muhammad Yusuf to the country, renting both Madura and Tinnevelly to him for a very moderate sum of five lakhs annually. By then the Maduari Meenakshiamman temple was in dire straits, with the temple lands occupied and plundered by hoodlums; looting and dacoity rampant in countryside. Yusuf Khan immediately restored the lands back to the Temple, and by the spring of 1759 he began by teaching the Kallans a wholesome lesson. Cutting avenues through their woods, he shot them down without mercy as they fled, or executed as malefactors any who were taken prisoners. He went on to reduce the rest of the country to order, and soon had sobered by various methods all the polygar and made himself extremely powerful. Also he renovated the tanks, lakes and forts damaged by Hyder Ali, restoring law and order. By now whatever he did increased revenue to the Nawab’s and British coffers.Controversial wars with Palayakkars
During this time Yusuf Khan battled with Puli ThevarPuli Thevar
Puli Thevar was a poligar who ruled Nerkattumseval situated in the Sankarankoil taluk of Tamil Nadu. Puli Thevar who belongs to the warrior Maravar community was one of the earliest Indian Kings to have fought and defeated the British in India.-History:He is one of the earliest opponents of the...
, a polygar of Nerkattumseval(Original Name was Nelkettaanseval) , a small town to the south-west of Madurai. Puli Thevar was rebelling against the Nawab and the British. Yusuf Khan(marudhanayagam) quickly separated Travancore Raja from Puli Thevar's group after entering into an agreement. Also to be remembered is that the Travancore Raja’s were long time feudatories of the Madurai Nayak kings, naturally becoming a feudatory to Delhi.
Yusuf Khan captured several of Puli Thevar's forts which were earlier tried unsuccessfully by the British. Later in a battle Puli Thevar was captured by Yusuf Khan, however Puli Thevar escaped in Sankarankovil (Is believed to be disappeared in Sankarankovil Gomathi Ambal Sanathi) where he was planned to be hanged. Puli Thevar remains a legend in the area and no further details about him is available.(Puli Thevan is today recognized by the Government of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu
The Government of Tamil Nadu, headquartered at Chennai is the governing authority for the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at the Fort St. George...
as a freedom fighter). Also during this time the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
captured the town of Alwartirunagari, to which Yusuf Khan retaliated and chasing them back to their ships.
Alagumuthu Kon
Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone
Veeran Azhagu Muthu Kone , also known as Alagumuthu konar'and ServaikararVeeran Azhagu Muthu Kone (1681-1739), also known as Alagumuthu konar'and ServaikararVeeran Azhagu Muthu Kone (1681-1739), also known as Alagumuthu konar'and Servaikarar(meaning as Head or Sevice provider to public,(not belongs...
, another rebel leader was also captured at Perunaalli Forests by Yusuf Khan and mercilessly killed by blowing him from the Mouth of cannon. AlaguranmuthuDevar cane to limelight in 1962 through a Communist magazine”Thamarai”(Lotus), and in 1995 his statue was opened at Egmore
Egmore
-Main places:* Chennai Egmore railway station.* Office of the commissioner of Greater Chennai Police department.* Government Museum, Chennai.* Connemara Public Library, one of the biggest libraries in India.* National Art Gallery...
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
.These brutal and savage acts instilled fear among other Polygars, who naturally pacified before the British. He even, had the audacity to make war on the king of Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
without the knowledge or consent of the company.
Start of the dispute
Reports of Yusuf Khan's brilliant victories now filled the Arcot Nawab with jealousy and alarm that he might depose him. Yusuf Khan by now instructed all the traders to render taxes directly to Yusuf Khan, while the Arcot Nawab wanted to have taxes routed through him. The British Governor (by now the British were good enough to have one) “Lord Pigot”,diplomatically advised Yusuf Khan to do as per Arcot Nawab’s order, also some British traders supported the same citing Yusuf Khan as Nawab’s employee. To make matters worse the Nawab’s brother Mahfuz Khan started planning to poison Yusuf Khan, with the whole hearted support of the Nawab.In 1761, and again in 1762, he offered to lease Tinnevelly and Madura for four years more at seven lakhs per annum. His offer was refused, and whether he was enraged at this, or whether he thought himself powerful enough to defy his masters, he shortly afterwards threw off his allegiance and began to collect
troops in an ambition to be the lord of Madurai.
Around this time some British traders reported (or rumored), to the Nawab and the Company, on Yusuf Khan” as encouraging people with anti-British sentiments, spending vast sums on his troops”.Nawab, in turn with the British sent Capt. Manson with orders to arrest Yusuf Khan.
Meanwhile Yusuf Khan sent a note to Sivaganga
Sivaganga
Sivaganga, also known as Sivagangai, is a town and a municipality in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Sivaganga district.-Geography:...
Zamindari reminding them on their pending Tax arrears.Sivaganga
Sivaganga
Sivaganga, also known as Sivagangai, is a town and a municipality in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Sivaganga district.-Geography:...
’s Minister and General came to meet Yusuf Khan in Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
, and after not getting their expected respect, got a rude warning, citing annexure of certain territories for the failure of arrears. The enraged Sivaganga Zamindar, immediately ordered Yusuf Khan to be “captured and hanged as like a dog”. Meanwhile and Ramnad Zamin’s general Damodar Pillai and Thandavarayan Pillai met the Arcot Nawab in Trichy,complained on Yusuf Khan’s plunderings of Sivaganga villages, his cannon manufacturing plant in association with a certain French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Marchaud, whom he a befriended earlier, with plans for a war against the Nawabs.
Arcot Nawab and the British quickly acted by amassing a huge army. For a start they aroused Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
Raja against Yusuf Khan (As by now the Travancore state fell smoothly into British charms).In the ensuring battle the Travancore raja was defeated and the British flags in his domains were chopped and burnt, and joined hands with the French and also hoisted the French flag on the Madura Fort.
When Governor Saunders in Madras(now Chennai) called Khan Sahib for a meeting, he refused evoking the wrath of the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. By now Delhi’s shah and Nizam Ali of Hyderabad, the Arcot Nawab’s overlords proclaimed Yusuf Khan as the rightful legal governor of Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
and Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...
regions. While Arcot Nawab along with the British was hell bent on finding a reason to capture and kill Yusuf Khan.
Tide against Yusuf Khan
Having turned the tables against most of them, Yusuf Khan had enemies lurking around him everywhere. Earlier working for the Arcot Nawab and British he earned the wrath of Mysore, and had slaughtered most of all rebellious Polygars who were anti-British, and the remaining were on the prowl. Now the Tanjore, Travancore, Pudukkotai, Ramnad, Sivaganga kingdoms joined with the British and the Arcot Nawab to attack Yusuf Khan, who by this time had proclaimed himself independent ruler of Madurai and Tirunelveli. In the First siege of Madurai in 1763, the English could not make any headway because of inadequate forces and the army retreated to Tiruchi citing Monsoons.Meanwhile the Nizam Ali of Hyderabad once again proclaimed Yusuf Khan as the Rightful governor, while the Arcot Nawab and the British issued death sentence for Yusuf Khan as “to be captured alive and hanged before the first known tree as like a dog”.
Final Battle
In 1764 again the British troops surrounded the Madurai Fort, this time cutting supplies to the fort. Hence Yusuf Khan and his troops went without food and water for several days inside the fort (surviving on HorseHorse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
and Monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
meat according to European sources) but held on with great energy and skill, renovating and strengthening the fort at great expense, and repelling the chief assault with a loss of 120 Europeans (including nine officers) killed and wounded. At the end of that time little real progress against him had been made, except that the place was now rigorously blockaded.
Meanwhile the Arcot Nawab consulted Sivaganga General Thaandavaraaya Pillai, along with Major Charles Campbell, hatching a treacherous plot to bribe Yusuf khan’s Dewan Srinivasa Rao, Marchand the captain of the French mercenaries and Khan’s doctor Baba Sahib. One morning, when Yusuf Khan was offering his prayers inside the fort, Marchand, Srinivasa Rao and Baba sahib went in quietly and pinned Yusuf Khan to the ground and tied him up using his own turban. Hearing this commotion, one youth called Mudali, close to Yusuf Khan, raised an alarm. He was quickly caught and cut down. As the news of the coup reached Yusuf Khan's wife, she rushed to the scene with a small posse of troops. But they were helpless against the well armed French and other European mercenaries, standing guard around the fallen ruler. Under cover of darkness and an even darker veil of secrecy, Marchand whisked away Yusuf Khan out of the fort and handed him over to Major Charles Campbell, who commanded the English among the besiegers. Unfortunately, the major part of Yusuf Khan's native forces remained totally unaware of the fateful drama that had been enacted inside his house, that morning.
The next day, in the evening of 15 October 1764, near the army camp at Sammattipuram, on the Madurai- Dindigul road, Yusuf Khan was ignominiously hanged as a rebel by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah
Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah
Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was the Nawab of Arcot in India and an ally of the British East India Company. Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah was born to Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan, by his second wife, Fakhr un-nisa Begum Sahiba, was a niece of Sayyid Ali Khan Safavi ul-Mosawi of Persia, sometime Naib suba...
, the Nawab of Arcot. This place is about two miles to the west of Madura, known as Dabedar Chandai (Shandy), and his body was buried at the spot.
What motives forced the three main conspirators, who were Yusuf Khan's close confidantes, to betray him? It is said that Yusuf Khan had once flogged Marchand with a whip (the first time a European officer had been whipped by a native ruler) and so he was waiting for an opportune time to take revenge. It is also possible that extreme misery of the people and soldiers inside the fort (because of the prolonged siege) might have forced the Dewan Srinivasa Rao and Baba Sahib, the physician of Yusuf Khan to decide that handing Yusuf Khan over to the English, would make them lift the siege and relieve the people of their intense agony and suffering. They might have imagined that Yusuf Khan would be sentenced to brief imprisonment and/or fine as punishment and let off later on.
Legends of his death
Local legend is that twice the noose broke down and he fell down alive, for which Yusuf Khan ordered the troops to remove a Neck brace before hanging.A sepoy guarding the Body of Yusuf Khan previous night reported to the Arcot Nawab, that Yusuf Khan appeared in his dream intending to return on the third day after his death and capture Madurai. The agitated Nawab ordered his men to chop his body into several parts and place them all over his domains. As went his Head to Trichinopoly alias Tiruchirappalli alias Trichy, arms to Palayamkottai
Palayamkottai
Palayamkottai , known as the "Oxford of South India", is a town in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It is part of the Tirunelveli city corporation. It is on the eastern bank of the Thamirabarani river, while its twin city Tirunelveli is on the western bank.-Etymology:The archaic word Palayam...
, legs to Tanjore and Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
for public viewing later buried at Periyakulam
Periyakulam
Periyakulam is a town and a Municipality in Theni district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Geography:Periyakulam is located at . It has an average elevation of 282 metres . It is located at the foothills of the Western Ghats bordering the neighbouring state of Kerala. It is one of...
city near Madurai, to instilling caution and fear, later buried there. The remaining body was buried at Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
.
In 1808, a small square mosque was erected over the tomb in Samattipuram, in Madurai, which exists to this day on the left of the road to Dindigul
Dindigul
Dindigul is a town and municipality in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India. The name Dindigul comes from the Portmanteau of “Thindu” meaning pillow and “kal” meaning Rock and refers to the bare hill dominating the city’s both land and skyscape...
, a little beyond the toll-gate, known as 'Khan Sahib's pallivasal'.
At the time of his death, Yusuf Khan had a son, who must have been 2 or 3 years old. Yusuf Khan's wife Maasa and the little boy vanished from history after the hanging. They might have escaped to Tirunelveli (?Alwarthirunagari) or Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
.
The descendants of Baba Sahib, Yusuf Khan's physician, live around Krishnan Koil in Virudhunagar District. They still practise native medicine and bone-setting.
The Madurai fort, which Yusuf Khan had defended so passionately during the two sieges in 1763 and 1764 was pulled down in end of the nineteenth century. His lodgement according to the French map, must have been on, what is now called, Khansa Mettu Street (Khan sahib mettu theru is converted as Khansa Mettu theru).
The fort in Palayamkottai
Palayamkottai
Palayamkottai , known as the "Oxford of South India", is a town in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It is part of the Tirunelveli city corporation. It is on the eastern bank of the Thamirabarani river, while its twin city Tirunelveli is on the western bank.-Etymology:The archaic word Palayam...
, he had repaired and used so well during his earlier wars with the poligars, was dismantled in the middle of the nineteenth century. Only parts of the western bastion, (now housing "Medai Police Station" ), the eastern bastion (now housing the Tirunelveli Museum) and a few short segments of the eastern wall are remaining.
Character
Tradition has many stories to tell of this remarkable man, who started his life as a peasant and by his military genius rose to the pinnacle of royal power when he became the ruler of the land, only to lose it all after a couple of years by the treachery of his comrade-in-arms. His executive ability is sufficiently indicated in the report (see below) from Colonel Fullerton - dated March, 1785 and entitled 'A view of the EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
interests in India'--which was republished in Madras in 1867. This says that in Tinnevelly and Madura 'his whole administration denoted vigour and effect. His justice was unquestioned, his word unalterable; his measures were happily combined and firmly executed, the guilty had no refuge from punishment.' It concludes by saying that 'wisdom, vigour and integrity, of no climate or complexion have surpassed his.'
Movie
Veteran Tamil actor Kamal HaasanKamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
some years back started shooting the movie Maruthanayagam portraying this character in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
languages. But the film was stopped for the time being or almost dropped mainly because of the protest from sangh parivar
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar refers to the family of organisations of Hindu nationalists which have been started by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or are inspired by its ideas. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement. It includes the RSS and several dozen smaller...
since Yusuf Khan sahib is a muslim freedom fighter.
External links
For the above mentioned three books, go to the website, click 'catalogues',and see under 'History, Archaeology and Antiquities'- http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/01/07/stories/2006010700700300.htm
- http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/59464e9f70ad34d2.html
- Movie Controversy
- http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/03/25/stories/2007032500140400.htm