Ettuveetil Pillamar

The Ettuveetil Pillamar (translated as Lords of the Eight Houses) were a group of nobles from Eight Nair Houses in erstwhile Venad in Kerala. They were associated with the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram and the Ettara Yogam. They were known by the villages in which they resided and all of them held the title of Pillai. The Eight Lords were Kazhakoottathu Pillai, Ramanamadhom Pillai, Chempazhanty Pillai, Kudamon Pillai, Venganur Pillai, Marthandamadhom Pillai, Pallichal Pillai and Kolathur Pillai [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 311] .

Traditional Accounts

Origin

The Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Trivandrum was governed by the Ettara Yogam, an association consisting of seven Brahmin families, one Nair noble, each of them with one vote in deciding the affairs of the temple, and the king of Venad with the right to half a vote [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 303] . The Ettuveetil Pillamar were originally tenants of certain Pohtti Brahmins and had nothing to do with the Temple. But in the course of time they gradually grew from ordinary landlords to powerful chiefs and allied themselves with the Ettara Yogam [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 304] . The lands and properties of the temple were divided into eight parts and each was placed by the Yogam under one of the Pillamar as governor. Since the King had only half vote in deciding temple affairs, the Yogam and the Pillamar were considered outside his authority and hence their power and influence grew without any curtailment. They soon started opposing the king openly and bringing more and more "Madampis" or nobles under their influence.

Aim of the Eight

The Ettuveetil Pillamar, aided by the Ettara Yogam, became supreme powers in Travancore to such an extent that the sovereign needed their permission even to construct a palace for himself at his capital [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 304] . With so much power in their hands they wished to do away with the Royal House and all the earlier chroniclers of Travancore history have stated that their chief intention was to extirpate the Royal House and convert the state into a republic, and eventually under a monarchy under one of themselves [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 311] . With this in mind they plotted and assassinated Maharajah Aditya Varma by poisoning him and set the Palace on fire [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 304] .

After Aditya Varma's assassination his niece Umayamma Rani became the regent. The Pillamar approached her with condolences and vowed to support her. But within a year, five of her six sons were cruelly drowned to death at the instigation of the Pillamar in the water pond known as Kalipankulam [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 310] . Now the only heir to the Royal House was her eldest son. However as per the matriarchal traditions of Kerala owing to the absence of females the family could not be perpetuated. Umayamma then adopted a cousin, namely Kerala Varma, into the house but soon he was assassinated as well [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 313] . She then adopted one boy and two girls from the Kolathunadu Royal House, the cousin family of the Travancore Royalty, from the family called "Pally Kovilakam" in 1684 just before her regency closed and her surviving son Ravi Varma became king. He adopted in 1689 two princesses and princes from Kolathunadu including Rajah Rama Varma [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai] .

The Eight lords and Marthanda Varma

Marthanda Varma was born in 1706 AD to the younger of the two adopted princesses of 1689 and right from his childhood he had to live constantly in hiding, in fear of his life. Many times assassination bids were made on his life. In 1728 an assassination attempt was made on the life of his sister and her son, the later Dharma Raja [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 259] . However it was in 1729, when the Rajah Rama Varma, died that actual war was declared. The Pillamar recognized a dangerous foe in Marthanda Varma and hence on the death of Rajah Rama Varma in 1730 they supported the "Kunju Thampis". The late Rajah had left two sons, Padmanabhan and Raman Thampi and a daughter Ummini Thankachi. These children of the late king known as the Kunju Thampis now staked claim to the throne, inspite of the prevailing Marumakkathayam law. The Pillamar furnished them with enough money and men to seek aid from the Pandyas of Madurai. However Marthanda Varma managed to avert war by bribing away the Pandyan army [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 334] . However soon after this the Kunju Thampimar were captured and killed at Nagercoil Palace [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 337] . It may be stated that in popular folklore it is said that Marthanda Varma's enmity towards the Kunju Thampimar was because of their refusal to allow him to marry their sister. It is said that Ummini Thankachi killed herself after the execution of her brothers to escape Marthanda Varma.

The Pillamar were initially deterred by the fate of the Thampis, for they did not expect Marthanda Varma to kill his own cousins. However, soon after this, they plotted once again to murder the king but intelligence of this reached the king. On the day of the "Arrat" festival when the murder was to take place, Marthanda Varma appeared with an escort strong enough to cow down the Pillamar [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 337] . But having received proof of the intention of the Pillamar to murder him they were all rounded up and tried soon after this [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya] .

The Eight were either killed or exiled after sufficient evidence of conspiracy and murder was procured. Their houses were dug up and all their assets and armies seized by the victorious Marthanda Varma. Their women and children were sold as slaves to the fishermen of the coast (With the exception of the womenfolk of Chempazhanty Pillai's family as his sister, known as "Chempazhanthy Ammachi" had on a previous occasion given shelter to the king while he was in exile and protected him from her brother). The two palaces at Trivandrum known as "Ramanamadhom" and "Thevarathu Koikal" were constructed from the wood and material of the palaces of the Pillamar [Travancore State Manual Vol II by V Nagam Aiya page 338] . The Travancore State Manual of Nagam Aiya concludes by saying,

Modern Views

Later historians, with many more records at their hand, have however disputed the story given by the earlier historians which were based on legend and folklore. While their is no doubt about the existence of anti royal nobles before Marthanda Varma [Sreedhara Menon, Kerala History] , as also frequent conflicts between the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple managers and the king, many of the events of the past were found to be entirely false.

The temple lands were managed by a group of nobles known as "Madathil Pillamar", often mistaken for the Ettuveetil Pillamar [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 206] . Earlier historians stated that the King had no authority over the temple and the Ettara Yogam and Pillamar were outside his control. However temple documents show that it was the king who appointed the highest dignitary of the temple, known as the "Swamiyar". Infact the authority of the king is considered to have been greatly valued for the records show the Yogam applying to the king for permission in trivial matters such as appointment of Temple sweepers [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 207] . Another contradiction found is in the fact that the Pillamar influenced the tenants of the temple lands. However the temple lands all lay to the south of Trivandrum where there were other influential nobles, whereas the bulk of the Pillamar lived to the north [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 208] . Records show clashes between Temple managers and the king's men but in none of these are the Pillamar mentioned. Another contradiction lies in the statement that since the 16th century the kings were mere puppets of the Yogam and Pillamar. It was during this period that the Travancore kings won victories over the mighty Vijayanagar Empire and the Thirumala Nayaks, which, it is asserted could not have been possible under a puppet king [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 208] .

A major disagreement is registered regarding the aim of the Pillamar to extirpate the royal family. Even if they succeeded in killing the Royal family at Trivandrum, there were the other collateral branches at Nedumangad, Kottarakara and Quilon, places where the Pillamar had no following [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 209] . It may be noted that all these branches participated in the meetings and management of the Temple and hence were active in Trivandrum also. In the document of 1730 regarding the execution of the Pillamar the name used for the conspirators is "Ettuveetil Madampimar" and not Pillamar. Besides, of the eight Pillais, only Kazhakoothathu Pillai and Kulathur Pillai are mentioned, the remainder being totally different individuals [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 211] . The remaining six families are not mentioned at all, and it is improbable that the King who personally made investigations would let any of them go free.

Further important revelations made the by documents of the Temple are with regard to Aditya Varma and Umayamma Rani. The Temple records which refer to minor events such as appointment of sweepers in the temple have not stated anything on the palace of Aditya Varma being burnt down [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 216] . Also the story that Aditya Varma was poisoned to death is positively disproved for the temple records clearly state that Aditya Varma died at Padmanabhapuram in the Darpakulangara Palace and was cremated at Thiruvattar. The King had died a natural death [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 219] . Another significant fact that has come to light is that Umayamma Rani had no children at all and hence the story of the murder of her five children is disproved. The Royal family consisted only of Umayamma Rani, a Senior Rani and Ravi Varma, the son of the Senior Rani. Infact Umayamma had two adopted sons from 1677 who were however not in line of succession [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 226] . However the stories of the assasination attempt of Marthanda Varma's sister in 1728 etc. are true, having occurred, at the instigation of, not the Pillamar, but the Rajah of Kayamkulam, the traditional enemy of Travancore [Travancore State Manual Vol II by TK Velu Pillai page 260] .

Thus many of the crimes for which the Pillamar are said to be have been punished were positively disproved. It is clear that there did exist refractory nobles of immense power and that Marthanda Varma did put an end to their authority and make that of the king supreme, but most of the stories about the Pillamar were found to be false.

References

ee also

* Nair
* Marthanda Varma
* Pillai
* Thirumukom
* Battle of Colachel
* Venad
* Travancore
* Thampi
* Ettara Yogam