Edachena Kunkan (also known as Edachena Kunkan Nair) was a

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histo ...

noble from Tirunelli, Wayanad,

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

who joined the war effort of

Pazhassi Raja Pazhassi Raja () (3 January 1753 – 30 November 1805) was known as Kerala Varma and was also known as Cotiote Rajah and Pychy Rajah. He was a warrior Hindu prince and de facto head of the kingdom of Kottayam, otherwise known as Cotiote, in ...

during the 1770s and became commander of the Raja's army. His younger brothers (Edachena Komappan Nair, Edachena Othenan Nair and Edachena Ammu) joined him as generals. Kunkan was a popular leader in Wayanad, gathering support from people of many classes for Raja's war against the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

Commander

Under Kunkan's leadership, Pazhassi's troops fought against

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...

and

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

as far as the outskirts of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

. This enlarged the Raja's sphere of influence, and he claimed territories as far as

Nanjangud Nanjangud, officially known as Nanjanagudu, is a town in the Mysuru district of Indian state of Karnataka. Nanjangud lies on the banks of the river Kapila (also called Kabini), 23 km from the city of Mysore. Nanjangud is famous for the S ...

. During Hyder's siege of Thalasseri, with help from Chirakkal and Kadathanad 779–1782 Raja sent 1,000 troops commanded by Kunkan (who repulsed all assaults by the Mysore army). The siege was later broken by a joint British-Pazhassi attack in 1782.

Capture of Panamaram Fort

The British increased taxes on farmers and demanded half the rice crop, to the dissatisfaction of the Wyanad people. When a member of the British Raj demanded a

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

, Kunkan killed him and 150 Kurichiyans under Thalakkal Chandu then joined him. With these troops and his brothers' support, Kunkan attacked the fort at

Panamaram Panamaram is a village in Wayanad district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census, Panamaram had a population of 11651 with 5891 males and 5760 females. Panamaram River Panamaram River is a tributary of the Kabani Rive ...

. It was guarded by 70 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 4th Bombay Infantry under Captain Dickenson and Lieutenant Maxwell; both commanders and 25 soldiers were killed on 11 October 1802. After massacring the detachment, Kunkan acquired 112 muskets and six boxes of ammunition, with a value of ₹6,000. The buildings were razed, igniting a widespread revolt in Wayanad against British rule.

Guerilla warfare

Shortly afterwards, Kunkan went to the

Pulpally Pulpally is a mid-sized town in Wayanad District of Kerala, India.Pulpally also known as 'The land of black gold'. Pulpally is also famous for its pure wild Wayanad honey. The only Seetha devi temple in Kerala is situated on Pulpally. Geographi ...

Pagoda and appealed to all Wayandians to join the rebel ranks; three thousand men volunteered. From then until early 1804, Pazhassi rebels launched guerrilla attacks on British positions throughout

North Malabar North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod, Kannur, and Wayanad District, Wayanad districts, and the taluks of Vatakara, Koyilandy, and Thamarassery in the Kozhikode Distri ...

, reaching the coastal towns of

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

Thalassery Thalassery (), formerly Tellicherry, is a municipality, Commercial City on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district, in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the List of districts of India, districts of Mahé, India, Mahé (Pondicherry), Kozhikode ...

and

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...

. Kunkan confronted the British twice: in 1802 at Wayanad, where he tried to block British troops en route to Mananthavadi and in 1803 when he tried to besiege an outpost at Pazhassi. Both failed, leading him to concentrate on

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

. The British announced a reward of 1,000

pagodas A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

for Kunkan's arrest. By November 1805, the rebels were on the run and after Raja's death, Kunkan ("that determined and incorrigible rebel") was killed by British troops at Panniyil (now Pannichal) in Edavaka.

Memorial

The people of Kerala have asked the government to build a memorial at

to Kunkan and Thalakkal Chanthu, since the Pazhassi rebellion is considered one of the most important uprisings against the British in South India.

In popular culture

In the 2009 Hariharan directed film ''

'',

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

played the title role while Edachena Kungan was portrayed, by

Sarath Kumar Sarathkumar Ramanathan (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, and singer. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He has won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards S ...

References