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Ettuveetil Pillamar

The Ettuveetil Pillamar (Transalated as Pillai Lords of the Eight Houses) was a group of nobles from Eight Nair Houses, all related in some manner to Royal Family of Venad. Prior to 1730 A.D Kingdom of Venad,was controlled by these Lords of small fiefdoms. These persons controlled the admnistration of their respective regions and advised the kings. Most often the Kings were tutelary posts with the nobles administering the kingdom. Ettuveetil Pillamar were lords of eight such powerful fiefdoms. These eight fiefdoms were Kazhakoottathu, Ramanamadhom, Chempazhanty, Kudamon, Venganur, Marthandamadhom, Pallichal and Kolathur. Pillai was the title they held. Their first names were not popular so they were addressed as per the name of their fiefdom. Hence Kazhakoottathu Pillai, Marthandamadhom Pillai and so on.

Origin

There were eight noble families in Venad who were invested with the noble title of Pillai. These families were initially tenants of some unknown Brahmin familes of Venad and slowly started increasing the area of the land under their control, till they finally usurped the lands of their respective Brahmin Lords and became Jenmis. They then came into contact with the Council of Eight and a Half known as the Ettara Yogam which consisted of seven Brahmin families, one Nair noblemen and the Maharajah of Venad alias Travancore.

About Ettara Yogam

The Ettara Yogam were the trustees of the Temple of Padmanabhapuram,of whom the Brahmins and the Nair nobleman had one vote each in deciding temple affairs while the Maharajah himself had only half. Hence the sovereign was practically powerless in the temple affairs. What made the Ettara Yogam so politically influential was that it owned immense areas of land over which the Government had no authority and hence grew to become a very wealthy and powerful group. By the 16th century the Eight Pillai families had become powerful feudal Lords as well and the Ettara Yogam, thereafter, allied themselves with the Pillais. The Temple property was divided into eight Adhikarems and each of these Lords were entrusted with collection of taxes and maintenance of law and order therein. Thus within the kingdom of Travancore itself, much of the land was actually in control of the Yogam and the Pillamar, with the sovereign being actually dependant upon them for money and men.

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. With so much power in their hands they wished to do away with the Royal House. It was with this in mind that Maharajah Aditya Varma was poisoned to death. After Aditya Varma's assassination his niece Rani Umayamma 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. 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 the Kottayam Rajah, into the house but soon he was assassinated as well. She then adopted two boys and two girls from the Kolathunad Royal House, the cousin family of the Travancore Royalty, from the family called Pally Kovilakam. Of the two girls one died soon after while the other married and had a son, the legendary Maharajah Marthanda Varma. When the younger of the two adopted princes was in power, a new idea entered the minds of the Pillamar. They now wanted a republic of states under the leadership of the said Maharajah's son, Sri Padmanabhan Thampi, who as per the matriarchal law had no claim to the throne. With this in mind, they strived to do away with the last remaining heir of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, who they realised was bent upon destroying their power.

The Eight and Marthanda Varma

Marthanda Varma was born in 1707 AD and right from his childhood onwards he had to live constantly in hiding, in fear of his life. Many times assassination bids were made on his life and also his mother's. However it was in 1729, when the Maharajah Rama Varma, passed away that actual war was declared. The Eight were bent upon killing Marthanda Varma and such was the power wielded by them that many supporters of Marthandan also had no choice but to join them. However in 1730 Marthanda Varma, with the support of the Madhura Naikers, Thirumukhathu Pillai, Mankoyikal Kurup and Arumukham Pillai defeated the confederacy of the Eight. While Padmanabha Thampi and Raman Thampi, along with their sister Thankamma Thampi, were killed at Nagercoil Palace. 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. However two families still exist through the matrilineal line as per V.Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual. The two palaces at Trivandrum known as Ramanamadhom and Thevarathu Koikal were constructed from the wood and material of the palaces of the Pillamar. In this entire episode Subhadra, the niece of the Thirumukom (Pillai) of Kudamon, plays an important part in betraying the Eight. She was a brave lady but treacherous and it was she who divulged secrets of the Eight to Marthanda Varmas people which made them victorious. However her uncle killed her after the battle for her treachery.

Ramanamadathil Amma

Before the destruction of the Pillamar, legend has it that Marthanda Varma married the only sister of Ramanamadhom Pillai, who was known as Ramanamadathil Amma. From this marriage a daughter, Kochu Thankachi was born to Marthanda Varma but after defeating Ramanamadhom and the other Pillamar, Ramanamadathil Amma and Kochu Thankachi, who were housed in Ramanamadhom Ammaveedu, built specially for them, rebelled against Marthanda Varma to avenge the death of their brother and uncle respectively. Ramanamadathil Amma was captured and sold as a slave to the fishermen of the coast, from where she reached the hiding place of her daughter and died there. Kochu Thankachi waged a battle against her father in which she was killed. But younger generations of Ettuveetil Pillamar still exist with costal areas. But they loyalty and livelihood is changed.

Travancore

Travancore was unified after the menace of the Eight was overcome. Their sisters had fled to various northern kingdoms like Kottarakara, Desinganad and Attingal (which had supported the Eight) etc with their families. Marthanda Varma started his expansions and soon annexed all the kingdoms uptil Cochin. The Rajah of Cochin acknowledged the supremacy of Travancore and ceded several districts to him while the Zamorin of Calicut was defeated in battle and was forced to sign a treaty of friendship. Marthanda Varma secured the power of monarchy and it was under his rule that the Nair aristocracy started disintegrating. Marthanda Varma also improved Trade and people were happy under his rule. Hence he is known as the 'maker of modern Travancore'.

Influence of the Pillais.

For a hundred and thirty years till the times of Maharajah Marthanda Varma Trivandrum and all those surrounding region were under the sole influence of the Pillais. The Ettuveetil Pillamar were entrusted with the collection of revenue from the villages and the vast temple properties of Padmanabhapuram were divided into eight Adikarems over which each of the Pillais ruled as petty chiefs. The king had no authority over the Pillamar who were responsible to the Ettara Yogam council of the Temple and hence they grew uncontrolled into supreme Lords and started influencing all those Nair Madampis (Barons) who were not attached to the King.