CLAN OF EIGHT
Haneef
Historically the clan of Ettu Veetil Pillamar were a dominating force since 1050 AD in the kingdom of Venad. Being one of the most ancient lineage of Nair gang, their families were older than the royal family of Venad. The Ettu veetil meant eight houses and Pillai was a title in the society (Pillamar is plural and known as the Lords of the Eight Houses). Hence Ettu Veetil Pillamar were a group of nobles who represented the eight leading Nair Houses in erstwhile Venad Kingdom.
They fought with pride for establishing democratic pattern of rule in the country subject to overall control of the King. The king having little or no authority over these clans of men, they rose in power and importance, and gradually became supreme lords in their villages, and in time the Madampimar (nobles and petty chiefs,) who were not loyally attached to the crown, were also influenced by the Ettu Veetil Pillamar and the combination became a powerful one.
Ettuveetil Pillamar were the leaders of the ‘tharakootams’ known as ‘Arunootavar’. (the military setup of Nairs) established for maintaining law and justice in Venad. They were the Governors of provinces of the country. They gradually grew from ordinary landlords to powerful chiefs and allied themselves with the Ettara Yogam.
Ettu Veetil Pillamar were associated with the Ettara Yogam, the “Council of Eight and a Half” the powerful body of Trustees of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The affairs of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple were vested in the hands of the council of eight and a half.
The Devaswam (Property of God) of Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple possessed extensive landed property, which was then called Sree Pandara Vaka (belonging to the holy treasury.) Its sole managers were the Yogakar the trustees, who had all the powers of despotic rule over the Devaswam property, and over every one of the tenants and holders of the Devaswam lands. Ettara Yogam began to operate the Devaswam through their attaches, the Ettu Veetil Pillamar, who were the representatives of eight noble families.
The power of this Ettara Yogam and the band of Ettu Veetil Pillamar become so great, that they even imposed heavy fines upon the sovereign for wrongs done to the Devaswam institution.
Eventually together, they had the power to exercise control over the king also.
The Ettuveetil Pillamar were known according to the villages in which they resided and all held the title of Pillai. The Eight Lords were Kazhakoottathu Pillai, Ramanamadhom Pillai, Chempazhanthy Pillai, Kudamon Pillai, Venganur Pillai, Marthandamadhom Pillai, Pallichal Pillai and Kolathur Pillai.
Kazhakkoottam and Chempazhanthy lie to the north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city, while Venganoor lies to the south, between Balaramapuram and Kovalam.
The Ettara Yogam ('King's Council of Eight and half.), was an association consisting of the Pushpanjali Swamiyar, seven Potti families, Azhakath Kurup, the Nair nobleman and the King of Venad administered the Sri Panmanabhaswamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram.
The Chief from Naduvil Madhom or Munchira Madhom presides over the meetings of the Sabha. He is called Pushpanjali Swamiyar as he performs floral worship to Lord Sri Padmanabha daily. The seven Potti families were 1. Koopakkara Potti, 2. Athiyara Potti of Vanchiyoor, 3. Athiyara Potti of Kollur, 4. Muttavila Potti, 5. Karuva Potti, 6. Neythasseri Potti and 7. Srikaryathu Potti. Then the Maharaja of Travancore, as Thrippappur Moopan the chief of Venad and Azhakath Kurup, the Nair nobleman.
The voting power of the members are as follows. The Ettara Yogam was the most powerful body in Venad kingdom at that time.
The lands and properties of the temple were divided into eight parts and was placed by the Yogam under each one of the Pillamar as governor. They soon started opposing the king openly and bringing more and more native Madampis or nobles under their influence.
The Ettuveetil Pillaimar, aided by the Ettara Yogam, became the supreme power in Venad to such an extent that the sovereign needed their permission even to construct a palace for himself at his capital. With so much power in their hands they wished to do away with the Royal House. Ettuvettil Pillamar, who were the leaders of people, also firmly believed that the foreigners are looting the wealth of the nation and denying freedom to the people. They criticised the king who was responsible for creating such a situation in the country. It was said that their chief intention was to extirpate the Royal House and convert the state into a pseudo-republic, under their control, and eventually under a monarchy under one of themselves. With this in mind they plotted and assassinated Maharajah Aditya Varma by poisoning him and set the Palace on fire in 1677.
After Aditya Varma's assassination in 1667, 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 drowned under suspicious circumstances, probably at the instigation of the Pillamar, in the Kalippankulam pond. The surviving eldest son, now the only heir to the throne, could not assume power as per the matriarchal traditions. (Due to the absence of females the family could not be perpetuated.) Umayamma Rani then adopted a cousin, namely Kerala Varma, into the house but soon he was assassinated as well. She then adopted one boy and two girls from the Kolathunadu Royal House of Malabar, the cousin family of the Venad House, 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 Raja Rama Varma.
Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma I, was born in 1705 to Queen of Attingal (Trippappur Swaroopam) Amma Thampuratty Karthika Thirunal Uma Devi and Raghava Varma of Kilimanur Royal house.
Just from his childhood Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma had to live constantly in hiding, due to the threat of Pillamar. Several 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. However it was in 1729, when the Raja Rama Varma died that actual war was declared.
Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma I, in his early twenties, ascended the throne of Venadu in 1729.
Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma I
The late Raja Rama Varma had two sons, Padmanabhan Thampi and Raman thampi and a daughter Ummini Thankachi. These children of the late king were known as the Kunju Thampis, now staked claim to the throne, in spite of the prevailing Marumakkathayam law (which said that a king would be succeeded only by his sister's eldest son -matrilineal system). Recognizing a dangerous foe in the intelligent and decisive Marthanda Varma, the Pillamar supported the Kunju Thampis. They 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. Soon after this Padmanabhan and Raman Thampi were captured and killed at Nagarcoil Palace. (It may be stated that according to a popular folklore, 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.) Ettuveetil Pillamar, thus, became the enemies of the King Marthanda Varma. They tried to do away with the royal families who ruled over the country in an autocratic style.
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 reports of this reached the king. On the day of the Arrat festival (the procession from Padmanabhaswamy Temple) when the murder was to take place, Marthanda Varma appeared with an escort strong enough to cow down the Pillamar. But having received proof of the intention of the Pillamar to murder him they were all rounded up and tried soon after this.
The Eight were killed after sufficient evidence of conspiracy and murder was established. Their houses were dug up (Kulamthondal - a common punishment of that time) and all their assets and armies seized by the victorious Marthanda Varma I. Their women and children were sold to the fishermen of the coast as slaves. The two palaces at Thiruvananthapuram, known as Ramanamadhom and Thevarathu Koikal were constructed from the wood and material of the palaces of the Pillamar.
Thus ended the long tale of crime and bloodshed committed by the lawless band of Ettuveetil Pillamar and the Madampimar who molested the land for a period of two centuries and more.
Sri Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma I the Maharaja of Travancore (1706-1758), strengthened the foundation of monarchy by laying an end to the pursuits of the powerful ‘Pillamar’, the Nair noble clans in the 1730. But the ‘Pillamar’ were not to quit down easily. It was believed, even after their death, the ghosts of the ‘Pillamar’ gave sleepless nights to the royal family members of erstwhile Travancore.
In order to put an end to this ordeal, the royal family consulted scholars and sought the assistance of the members of Changanacherry Kumaramangalas Mana, the spiritual tantrics to the Royal Family to exorcise the spirits of Pillamar. “According to popular tradition, the patriarchs of the Mana, with their tantric powers, managed to control the spirits. The spirits under bondage, confined in ‘kumbhams,’ (pots) were taken to their ancestral place at Changanacherry and installed at the Vettadikavu temple owned by the Mana.
The eight niches, the resting place of the spirits, can still be seen in the Vettadikavu temple at Changanacherry.
The eight niches, the resting place of the spirits at the
Vettadi Temple, Changanacherry
Despite all this, the members of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore, for long, never visited Changanacherry or Vettadikavu temple. There was a belief that, if the King of Travancore ever set foot on the soil of Changanacherry, the spirits of the 'Pillamar' would break free from their bondage and return to Thiruvananthapuram and the royal family will lose their power and the kingdom, as a promise given to them at the time of the installation of the spirits at Changanacherry.
Legend says that at the time of confining the spirits under bondage in the pots by the tantric powers of Kumaramangalas Mana, the spirits of Pillamar requested when they will be released. The Maharaja promised that the next time when the Maharaja comes to Changanacherry they will be released. So it became a taboo for the royalty of Travancore to visit Changanacherry since 1730.
For that matter the myth came true too. Since the installation of the spirits of Pillamar at Changanacherry, Vettady Temple, Sri Chithira Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore (1931-1949) for the first time visited Changanacherry in connection with the formal opening celebrations of the NSS College, Changanacherry and he lost power and the Kingdom.
Sri Chithira Thirunal
Maharaja
Ramanathan Sankaran
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Haneef
Dear RS
To me History is always tempting and inviting. It’s all about a collection of fascinating true stories from the bizarre to the beautiful. Myth to mysteries.
Going through it we discover some of the most interesting and fascinating moments of the past.
When I enjoy it, I want to you all to enjoy it too
It is gratifying to know that you enjoyed reading it.
Regards
Haneef