India Independence Day 2026: Kerala's freedom martyrs — From Pazhassi Raja to Velu Thampi Dalawa and hundreds of commoners

From kings and chieftains to common people, dozens from present-day Kerala laid down their lives in the struggle against British colonial rule and for India's independence. Kerala's contribution to India's freedom struggle spans early 19th-century princely-state revolts against the East India Company and, later, the 20th-century nationalist, peasant and labour movements in the erstwhile Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions.

Pazhassi Raja: The king who fought the British East India Company

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja is widely regarded as one of Kerala's earliest and most significant anti-British leaders. Known as Kerala Simham, or the Lion of Kerala, the de facto ruler of Kottayam led a prolonged guerrilla resistance against the British East India Company, known in British records as the Cotiote War, from 1793 until his death in 1805. He opposed the Company's revenue policies and its growing control over Kottayam, Malabar and Wayanad. He got support from groups including the Kurichiya tribal community. Pazhassi Raja was killed in a British operation near Mavila Todu in Wayanad on 30 November 1805. The Cotiote War was one of the longest sustained armed resistances to Company rule in the region.

Velu Thampi Dalawa: The official who preferred death to surrender

One of the major early anti-colonial administrators, Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi, better known as Velu Thampi Dalawa, was the Dewan, or Prime Minister, of Travancore. He led the 1808–09 revolt against British interference in Travancore, including opposition to the growing powers exercised by the British Resident, Colonel Colin Macaulay, under what was known as the ‘subsidiary alliance’. He issued the famous Kundara Proclamation on 11 January 1809, calling on the people to resist British rule. After his forces suffered defeats, Velu Thampi was cornered at Mannadi. Rather than be captured, he took his own life in March 1809. His body was displayed by the British as a warning to others.

Paliyath Achan, from the hereditary Cochin family of chief ministers, was a key ally of Velu Thampi. He led opposition to British influence in the Cochin state and took part in the revolt. He surrendered to the British and was exiled first to Madras and later to Benares, where he died in 1835.

Vaikom Padmanabha Pillai, a military officer and Nair militia leader in Travancore, joined Velu Thampi's revolt and served as one of its military commanders. He was involved in attacks on British forces and was captured in 1809. He was subsequently publicly hanged by the British.

20th-century nationalist, peasant, labour and political martyrs

Besides these prominent leaders, hundreds of ordinary people laid down their lives in the struggle against British rule and the autocratic princely administrations. Peasant and labour movements in Malabar often combined opposition to colonial rule with resistance to the power of jenmis, or landlords.

The Kayyur peasant struggle in present-day Kasaragod district was one such movement. The uprising of March 1941 grew out of tensions involving peasants, jenmi landlords and the British administration. Four young activists — Madathil Appu, Koyithattil Chirukandan, Podora Kunhambu Nair and Pallikkal Aboobacker — were sentenced to death and hanged at Kannur Central Jail on 29 March 1943 in connection with the killing of a police constable during the uprising.

Neyyattinkara firing martyrs

On 31 August 1938, during the movement for responsible government in Travancore, demonstrators gathered at Neyyattinkara following the arrest of NK Padmanabha Pillai, the acting president of the Travancore State Congress. Travancore State Forces opened fire on the protesters near the bus stand. Those killed included Athazhamangalam Raghavan, popularly known as Veeraraghavan, Kalluvila Podiyan, Nadoorkolla Kuttan Pillai, Varuvilakom Muthan Pillai, Maruthur Vasudevan, Kanchampazhinji Kuttappan Nair and Varuvilakom Padmanabhan Pillai. A woman named Kali was also killed, bringing the reported death toll to eight.

The INA's Penang group: Kerala members who faced the gallows

Some Malayali freedom fighters were part of the network associated with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA) and the Indian Independence League in Southeast Asia. Among the 20 members of the so-called Penang group who entered India in 1942, several were from Kerala. They were arrested and tried by the British on charges including conspiracy to wage war against the King and acting as enemy agents. The Kerala members who faced the death penalty included Vakkom Abdul Khader and Anandan. Khader and Anandan were among the four members of the group who were hanged at Madras Jail on 10 September 1943, along with Satyendra Chandra Bardhan of Tripura and Fauja Singh of Punjab.

Peasant uprisings to the Wagon Tragedy: The deaths of common freedom fighters

There were violent confrontations between the colonial authorities and several popular movements in the final decades of British rule in Kerala. Some of the anger of the people were directed at local rulers and landlords. Martyrs of these struggles included those who died at Karivellur, Morazha and elsewhere in Malabar. The Morazha protest of September 1940, for example, saw a clash between demonstrators and the police in which two police personnel and two young protesters were killed.

Several participants from Kerala were also killed or injured during the Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, including in police firings and other clashes in Travancore and Malabar.

The Wagon Tragedy took place in November 1921 during the repression that followed the Malabar Rebellion. Prisoners arrested in connection with the uprising were being transported by train from Tirur towards prisons outside Malabar. Around 100 prisoners were packed into a closed goods wagon; 64 were found dead when the wagon was opened at Podanur, and six more later died, taking the death toll to 70. Most of those who died were Mappila Muslim prisoners. The incident became one of the most notorious episodes of colonial repression during the Malabar Rebellion.