Battle of Colachel

 Eustachius Brnedictus De Lenoy Dutch military commander and Battle of Colachel ..

It was 1741 

Foriegn companies powered with modern armies were continuing thier kerala sojourn all in search of the Black Gold ,pepper and other spices .

The portugese started it in end of 14 century by 16 th came the Dutch ,the French and finally the British .

Thier methods were to befriend local Rajas and chieftains defeating thier enemies and getting concessions slowly forming colonies and governing the kingdoms ,the Rajahs were made mere motifs .

But 1728 brought Marthanda Varma to power in Travancore .

He was of a different mettle .

He fought aggressively defended and even conquered land .

By 1745 parts of Cochin parts of Malabar were under Travancore .

This was not good for the Dutch who had godown business's and colonies in these areas .

The Dutch East India company was powerful with lot of ships of a strong navy and a fighting fit army trained in modern warfare with firepower and cannons .

The Dutch commander in Sr Lanka or Ceylon then warned Marthanda Varma to give back Dutch lands and also not try to invade Kayamkulam and its Rani protected by them .

Marthanda Varma not only defied him he replied he was thinking of invading Europe itself !

Imof with his young commander De Lenoy sailed to India with a formidable navy and army landed in Colachel near Kanyakumari and  put siege to its fort .

Thier aim was Padmanabhapuram palace of Marthanda Varma closeby .

They tried to win over local xtian fishermen Mukkuvar , to thier side using religion but fishermen would never betray thier Rajah .

Instead they sank many ships being excellent divers .

The battle of Colachel too ended in Dutch defeat as a spark ignited all thier firepower. 

All Dutch remaining alive were taken as prisoners .

De lenoy was given oppurtunity to serve Maharaja in his army with a regiment of pardoned Dutch soldiers .

De lenoy built Travancore army as moder

n army trained them in using fire arms and was given post of commander .

He built forts all along in north south called Travancore lines like udayagiri fort .

He reconstructed Vattakotta .

He died at 62 years and was buried near Colachel and the tombstone is his .