FORGOTTEN HEROES OF TRAVANCORE - NAIR PATTALAM

The Trivandrum city is famous for its statues, sculptures and Memorials. When someone travels through Palayam there is a small island opposite to Fine Arts College. In the island stands a tall Pillar. The inscription on the Pillar reads as “To the memory of the men of Indian Army recruited from the state of Travancore who lost their lives in the service of the empire during the Great War – 1914-1921”. But today only a few remember those warriors. They were the ‘Nair Pattalam’ who once shook the entire Travancore Kingdom. The memorial was established in the memory of the Nair Pattalam of erstwhile Travancore who laid down their lives during the First World War.

The Travancore Nair Infantry (Nair Pattalam) was formed in 1704. They were the personal warriors of Maharajah Marthanda Varma, the greatest king of Travancore. During early days before the formation of Nair Pattalam under Marthanda Varma, Nair Soldiers were drawn only from the Nair Community. But after the arrival of Portuguese the Nair Soldiers were involved in regional conflicts with the Portuguese. During these conflicts some Nairs served with the Portuguese also. After this Portuguese popularised the word Nair and also called other community warriors who fought with them as Nair Soldiers.

The Nair Pattalam were distinguished themselves in the Battle of Colachel (1741). In this battle the Dutch forces under the command of Captain Eustachius De Lanoy was defeated by the Travancore Forces. The major element of the forces was the Nair Pattalam, the personal army of Raja Marthanda Varma. Eustachius De Lanoy later helped Raja to modernize the army. Lanoy introduced fire arms, artillery and other western warfare techniques to Travancore forces. These well equipped forces went onto conquer more than half of the modern Kerala. These forces delay the Tipu Sultans army during the Third Anglo-Mysore war in 1791 till the British forces arrived.

The Travancore army was reorganised as Travancore Nair Brigade in 1818. From 1935 onwards the army was considered as a part of Indian state forces. After independence the Nair Pattalam merged with the Indian Army. The present 9^th and 16^th battalions of Madras Regiment of the Indian Army are the successors of the Nair Pattalam.