Battle of Ambalapuzha

01The northern rising

Marthanda Varma had swallowed the small states north of Travancore one after another: Kayamkulam, Ambalapuzha (Chempakassery), Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur. In 1753 their exiled rajas stirred a rising, backed by the Raja of Cochin and quietly by the Dutch. Their army, under the Cochin courtier Palliyil Idikkela Menon, took Purakkad. On 3 January 1754 it met the Travancore army at Anadeswaram; the fight was even, but the allies fell back on Ambalapuzha.

02Rout at Ambalapuzha

Travancore’s army, trained by the Flemish officer De Lannoy after Colachel and led by Prince Rama Varma and the dalawa Ramayyan, followed them up. At Ambalapuzha the allies were broken, and many Cochin nobles were killed or taken. Idikkela Menon was captured and executed. Travancore troops then pushed into Cochin territory as far as Arukutti and Udayamperur. The Raja of Cochin sued for peace, and the treaty of 1757 confirmed Travancore’s gains.

Dynasty · 1729–1949 CEKings of TravancoreMarthanda Varma built Travancore out of the small Venad kingdom in the 1730s and 1740s, beat the Dutch at Kolachel in 1741, and in 1750 gave the whole kingdom to Shri Padmanabha. His successors ruled as the deity’s servants until Travancore joined India.Read →