Battle of Thrissur

01Cochin turns to Travancore

Since the 1750s the Zamorin of Calicut had overrun the northern lands of the Raja of Cochin, Thrissur with its Vadakkunnathan temple among them. Paliath Achan, Cochin’s hereditary chief minister, made an alliance with Maharaja Rama Varma of Travancore, Cochin agreeing to cede some recovered territory in return. Travancore’s army was commanded by the Dalawa Ayyappan Marthanda Pillai and by Eustachius de Lannoy, the Flemish officer captured at Kolachel in 1741 who had trained it on European lines.

02The pincer

From Paravur the army split in two. The Dalawa marched straight on Thrissur while De Lannoy went north to take Chetwai and come at the town from the other side. Marthanda Pillai’s column took Thrissur. The Zamorin’s men, caught between the two, fought stubborn rearguard actions from Chetwai to cover their retreat, but they could not stand against De Lannoy’s disciplined troops. The Calicut forces left Cochin territory, and the Zamorin sued for peace, promising lasting friendship and paying an indemnity.

Dynasty · c. 12th century–1766 CEZamorins (Samoothiri) of KozhikodeThe Samoothiri, called Zamorin by Europeans, ruled the port of Kozhikode, the busiest pepper market on the Indian Ocean, for some five centuries. They received Zheng He’s fleets and Vasco da Gama, and fought the Portuguese at sea for a hundred years.Read →