The
Action shifts from Thondaimandalam to Trichy –
On
a pillar to the left of the 7th
Pallava Cave temple on the way to Uchchi Pillayar – inscription by Mahendra
Varma Pallava
காவிரி நயன அபிராம சலீலாம் ஆராம மாலாதராம்…
The Kaveri…. Whose waters please the eye and who wear
garland of gardens…
1751
CE
The
description of Kaveri and Tiruchi by British Sources were similar in many ways
in the 17th century.
The
town of Trichinopoly was at the time, rectangular in form, and nearly six miles
in circumference…. In the north quarter of the town, rises sheer up, a broad
mass of dark grey gneiss that bears in its topmost pinnacle, a small shrine.
Looking from the platform northward, the eye rests on two bright rivers winding
serpentine, and left between them a fair champaign covered with the dark mango,
feathery tamarind and the lovely green banana.
Amidst
the varied foliage may be faintly seen red battlements high towered; they are
the walls and the gate-towers of the stupendous temple of Seringham, which has
for centuries been a center of Hindu Religious Life.
The city
of Trichy teemed with troops –
Mohammed
Ali who was cornered in the fort, the French, and their ally Chanda Sahib.
Mohammed
Ali sought the help from the fort of Karur, a dominion of the Mysore kingdom.
The
background of the battle between the French and the British -
The
French and the English were all over the Chengalpattu region – Vandalur,
Kaveripakkam etc
The army
of those times was categorized as Europeans, Topanes referring to the Indians
converted to Christianity by the Portuguese, and Caffres to the original
inhabitants.
Chanda
Sahib needed funds to maintain his army
and turned to plunder Tanjore. The Rajah instead of fighting agreed to pay a
huge ransom.
He also
entered in correspondence with Mohammed Ali and with him requested Nasir Jung
at Golconda to settle the matters in the Carnatic.
The Raja
of Tanjore also sought the assistance of the British.
Nasir
Jung then started marching in with a huge army, met Mohammed Ali with this army
of 6000 horses and an English detachment commanded by Captain Cope at Vilinier,
( Villianoor) a fort to the west of Pondicherry.
Mohammed Ali meeting Nasir Jung took Captain Cope by hand and presenting him said, “he
had brought that gentleman and the assistance of the English Nation “as the customary gift. Pleased with the
answer, he was proclaimed Nawab of Arcot by Nasir Jung, and some honours were
conferred on Captain Cope.
Common
cause and Alliances had been formed on both the British and the French sides.
During
the early months of 1752 CE for many months that followed, battles were fought in many places in and around
Tiruchy. Tiruvadi, Koiladi, Vaalikondapuram, Samayapuram, Srirangam, and the
Fort of Trichy. Volumes have been written on those events.
After a
tiring but successful stint, the action shifted to Thondaimandalam.
15th
September 1752 - “Siege of Cobelong and
Chinglapet”
The
Capture of Kovalam and Chengalpattu were termed by the British Chroniclers as
Clive’s Glorious Campaign
The Fort
of Chengalpattu was very strong and
Kovalam on the coast with a fort were of strategic importance.
Kovalam
in the hands of the French was a threat to the British seat at Madras and
Chengalpattu was a grave obstacle for Stringer Lawrence on his task of establishing
the authority of the Nawab in the centre of the province.
The
British, under Governor Saunders were determined to capture these forts before
the arrival of fresh reinforcements from France.
On 31st
August 1752, the grounds had to be prepared to justify the action without
infringing the Treaty of Peace between the British Sovereign and the French
King signed in Europe.
They had
to cite the incursions made by the French in the British owned villages around
Poonamallee and San Thome as quoted in their papers preserved at the Fort St
George.
Clive
was then a young man of 27 was then a trail blazer, fresh from his defense of
Arcot acclaimed as brilliant, followed by the battles of Kaveripakkam and
Tiruchirapalli.
“In his
great maneuvers and operations, he had shown that he was gifted with the quick
eye and intuitive powers of command, and in repairing an error or meeting the
blows of fortune, he showed coolness and tenacity and a strongly tempered
soul.”
“However
wild and degenerate the young recruits might be, he discovered the sound stuff
that was in them and by discipline converted them into effective soldiers.
He had a
wonderful understanding of the natures of the Orientals; and the sepoys,
elevated by the confidence he placed in them, rivalled their European comrades
in many a gallant deed.”
Robert
Orme, holding the position of a factor according to the regulations of the East
India Company, was entitled to internal trade, and Clive became his partner.
The firm
at Madras was entitled, ‘Robert Orme and Clive’ and they carried on a lucrative
trade between Bengal and the Coromandel Coast.
They
were successful as merchants, because they studied, at all convenient seasons,
the institutions, the manners, and customs of the native inhabitants. Clive was
as cheerful and happy as a successful young man can be except when he was into
fits of despondency and gloom which he seemed to have endured all his life.
On 15th
September 1752, Captain Clive began his march towards Covelong and the next day
arrived at a rising ground at about 2 miles distant from the fort flying the
French Flag.
Lieut.
Cooper had taken possession of a garden very advantageously situated at a
distance of about 500 metres from the fort. Clive reached them at a crucial point when the
commander had been killed and forces
were in confusion.
A shot
which had struck a rock had sent splinters killing or wounding fourteen of the
men. Clive had found them concealed at the bottom of a well.
It is
said Clive snatched victory from the jaws of disaster; rallied his broken
troops with even Violence and Compelled the fleeing men to return to fight. He
is said to have exposed himself to the hottest of the enemy’s fire to inspire
others to follow his example.
Clive
then was engaged in the formation of an array of artillery in the beach for a
bigger assault.
Failing
to see any reinforcements arriving to rescue them, the French governor of the
Kovalam Fort decided to succumb. They accepted to being taken as prisoners of
war and surrendered the fort which was taken possession by 4 pm.
The next
morning, a regiment led by Monsieur St.
Germain the Governor of Chengalpattu ignorant of the surrender approached
Kovalam and were ambushed. The squadron was decimated with them either being
killed or taken prisoners.
To quote
Clive himself, “The taking of Covelong and Chingalaput put the Nabob in
possession in all of the Carnatic to the North of Punniar.
A star hotel is reported to have been built in the vicinity of the old fort.
He then
went on to marry Margaret Maskelyne, sister of his friend and returned to
England with a fortune.
That he will back in 1756 to Capture Bengal firmly
establishing British Rule in India and framing various policies that enriched
the East India Company and the Employees themselves are all matters that can be
written in volumes.
But the
foundations of the Bharat coming under colonization by the British were laid
here.
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