Podcast: The Prince

Please listen to me narrating a story from the history of India's freedom struggle in this podcast:

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Poetic Justice and the Prodigal Son

Societies tell their stories in a manner quite different from the way historians narrate them. While historians look for proof in the way of archaeological evidence, copper plates, etc, rarely do they admit folklore or other oral traditions as credible evidence of a historical occurrence.

Strangely, in yet other instances historians tend to over look credible proof as substantial enough to acknowledge the emotions that underwrite historical occurrences. It happens when history is written by those who perhaps desire that the society of which the history is written at best remain ignorant of the justice that history does to some of its actors in ways that only history knows best.

This is one such story - the story of William Collins Jackson, who set the stage of history aflame in which one of the greatest sons of India was consumed, Veerapandiya Kattabomman.

Jackson, William Collins was born in 1763 in a humble British family. By the reference of some well-wisher of the family, young Jackson was employed as a Writer by the EIC in 1781. In 1783, he became Assistant to the Secretary to the Select Committee and in 1785 became Deputy Secretary to the Select Committee. In the initial years of his employment in Madras and Bombay, Jackson’s fortunes were against him, though he managed to grab the attention of the Board of Governors in Madras who eventually made him Deputy Secretary in the Military and Political Department in 1786. He also served as Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese Translator. His fortunes turned favourable when, in 1790 he was appointed Secretary in the Mlilitary, Political, and Secret Department, and Judge Advocate-General. Though he had built a modest fortune by then[1], the duties enrusted upon him began to tell upon his health and he requested the Board of Governors for change of vocation. Heeding to his request, the Board appointed him as Collector of Ramnad and Collector of the Southern Polygar Peishcush, in 1797.

On 12 March 1797, he took over as Collector at Ramnad. In the ensuing two years, he came to lock horns over the collection of Peshcush from Veerapandia Kattabomman. Bommu initially preferred to arrive at a compromise. However, the council Jackson received from some elements of his Cutchery inimical to Bommu resulted a deadlock and his failed attempt to arrest Bommu.

In his own memoir[2] published in London in 1812, Jackson suspected the Military President of EIC to have indirectly sided with Bommu which resulted in Bommu being returned to his Palayam with no more than an advice to comply with EIC directives.

In the meanwhile, allegations of improper appropriation of wealth by the Collector began falling on the ears of the Board. At least two specific instances of him asking for a ‘nuzzer[3]’ of 20000 and 18000 pagoda[4] from various sources came to be investigated by the Board of Governors. Jackson also made use of his position to trade privately in clothes and cotton, though such practice was prohibited by EIC nonetheless indulged by most English officials in India.

Together, both the instances of failure to secure Bommu and allegations of impropriety resulted in EIC asking Jackson to relinquish his duty[5] and returned to England. He returned to London in 1799 and eventually resigned from Company Service in 1812.

Jackson’s life took a different turn in London. With the wealth he had acquired in Madras Province, he purchased an elegant home at 11, Gloucester Place in London’s fashionable West End, and Mr Jackson had recently acquired a country estate in Langley, Buckinghamshire[6]. He had one son, William Jackson Burkes Collins who was born 1792. Jackson Jr was destined to inherit the family estate and a handsome £ 50000 at the passing of his father.

The Jr however had more than mere pleasure of being an Esquire’s son to give to his father. Wealth at his disposal made him frequent the brothels of London and indulge in improper public conduct, resulting in his arrest at least thrice and incarceration in Old Bailey. Every time Jackson Sr would use his moneys and connections to get his son out of Old Bailey, Jackson Jr managed to avail himself of another ignoble opportunity. Between 1810 and 1812, Jackson Jr indulged in a public fraud that became the theme of London society talk. The dismayed father, with the help of Sir George Shee (his brother-in-law) and few other factors eventually managed to save his son from Old bailey again on the condition that he would be deported to the Penal Colony in Australia.

In 1812, Jackson Jr was deported to Australia. He died in Sydney purportedly due to malaria in 1828 at the age of 36.

William Collins Jackson, the father, died in 1814, aged 51 and broken hearted. The trials and tribulations of the Jackson family of the London years became a theme for study of ‘wealthy Nabobs and their profligate sons”[7].   

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[1] Jackson even had his portrait done by John Smart in 1787 in the fashion of Victorian elites. The portrait is in a private collection in Germany. See:  http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=1875&Desc=Portrait-miniature-of-a-Gentleman,-possibly-William-Collins-Jackson-|-John-Smart

[2] Jackson, WC (1812), Memoir of the Public Conduct and Services of William Collins Jackson, Esq. Late Senior Mechant on the Company’s Madras Establishment, Smith & Co: London, Pp 53-54.

[3] Nuzzer – gift. The Mughal custom of accepting personal gifts by officials of the Mughal administration was followed with fervor by many EIC officials resulting in the amassment of wealth beyond honorable means. 

[4] See the comment on Star Pagoda at Note 2.

[5] The Ramnad Committee forwarded their proceedings to the Governor in Council on the 31st day of December 1798; and on the very day they were received at Madras, viz. the 4th of January 1799, the Collector was “dismissed from his employ;” not for any measure originated in his public conduct, but “on Ly” for having written (after he had notified his intention to resign) a private letter to a Member of the Board of Revenue, containing some wholesome and salutary advice. “Considering,” said Lord Clive and his Council, “considering the important situations which Mr. Jackson has filled, and the repeated testimonies of approbation which he has obtained from this

Government, and from the Honorable Court of Directors, we have had much concern in manifesting this serious mark of our displeasure: but individual pretensions, however splendid, or meritorious, MUST Yield To the weighty NECESSITY OF SUPPORTING THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES OF GOVERNMENT”. (Pp53-54 of the Memoir).

[6] Nicola Phillips, A Case Study of the Impact of Wealth on the Criminal Justice System in Early Nineteenth-Century England, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, Vol. 17, n°1 | 2013, 29-52.

[7] Nicola Philips, The Profligate Son: Or, a True Story of Family Conflict, Fashionable Vice, and Financial Ruin in Regency England, OUP Oxford, 24-Oct-2013.

Bommu

The Poligar (Palayakkarar) of Panchalankurichi stands tall among the torchbearers of revolt against the British at a time when the East India Company (EIC) had established itself as the sole military power in control of swathes of land much larger than their parent country, England. After battle of Plassey in 1757, only three kingdoms remained unsubdued by the English cannon and it’s Native Infantry (ironically!!). The Marathas to the west, Nizam of Hyderabad in the Deccan and Hyder Ali/Tipu Sultan of Mysore. It would be a mere matter of five decades before these three will come under the English control and a hundred years before Queen Victoria will proclaim herself as the Empress of India.

Between the later destiny of England and the evil designs of East India Company stood one man atop the ramparts of a modest mud fort at Palayamkurichi – Veerapandia Kattabomman.

Bommu Naicker as he was popularly called was just 39. Married to Rani Jakkammal, the lady with the name of his family deity for whom he had constructed a temple at Palayamkurichi, He was a fearless warrior. When the Nawab of the Carnatic tried to establish his control over the Poligar dominions in the southern districts of Tamil country, Bommu refused to accept the Nawab’s suzerainty. Many Poligars in the region endorsed his views, Bommu came to be viewed as a rebel by the Nawab.

The Nawab had also liberally availed loans from East India Company in order to live the life of a king. Some 900000 Star Pagoda[1] worth of loans later, the EIC entered into an agreement with the Nawab in 1793. Under the terms of the agreement, the EIC was given powers to collect Peshcush (tributes) and Kisti (taxes) from the Poligars and peasant/traders to make good Nawab’s loan. Couched in appropriate words, the agreement gave unrestrained power to EIC to collect the revenues, even using force when necessary. Of course, the Nawab was obliged to pay extra for the expenses of the ‘force’ when so used[2].

It is in this background, the Collector of Ramnad/Tinnevely (Tirunelveli), William Collins Jackson, sent an ‘advisory’ to Kattabomman to pay up his dues in 1793. Not receiving favorable reply, Jackson entered into an elaborate political play that eventually unwound in the form of siege of Panchalankurichi. Though it was a mud fort, it stood the siege for nearly five months. In the aftermath of this debacle, EIC was left with little choice but to pull every trick under its hat to subdue Kattabomman, for, his successful stand had fanned the embers of revolt amongst other Poligars. EIC went about proclaiming Kattabomman as a bandit and indulged in a maligning campaign to dent his appeal amongst other Poligars. Obviously, Kattabomman became the most wanted bandit in British India history.

Led by Major John Alexander Bannerman, EIC troops eventually succeeded in breaching and reducing the mud fort in their next attempt. Even though, Bommu lost his able deputy Vellaiyathevan, he escaped capture. Roaming around incognito in the realms of Pudukkottai, Kattabomman was arrested by the soldiers of Vijaya Raghunatha Thondaiman, Raja of Pudukkottai, and handed over to the EIC. By the time Bommu was hunted and captured, Jackson was replaced by Stephen Rumbold Lushington, as Collector of Ramnad/Tinnevely.

In a trial that was aimed at sending a strong message to other Poligars, in as much as ending smothering the fire of revolt in Kattabomman, he sentenced to death by hanging. The public hanging, much in the form of mediaeval fanaticism of the Crusades, was carried out at Kayathar by Major Bannerman. Bommu was hung from a tamarind tree and his body was left there to rot for the public to see.

Bommu had two brothers and two sisters but no progeny of his own. Even though very little is known about his kith and kin, there are reports that some descendants of him still live at Panchalankurichi. Government of Tamil Nadu has re-erected the mud fort and housed a memorial for Bommu at the site. India Post honored his memory with a stamp on the 200^th Death Anniversary in 1999.

School Text Books in Tamil Nadu and books on the history of India celebrate him as the hero of the First Revolt against British Rule. Statues of Kattabomman adorn the pride of place in many a towns and cities of Tamil Nadu, including Panchalankurichi.    

The Indian Navy’s establishment INS Kattabomman was commissioned on 20 Oct 1990 by then President, Shri R Venkataraman.

Tamil cinema immortalized Veerapandia Kattabomman’s story in 1959 by a movie by the same title, with Tamil Cinema’s leading actor Shivaji Ganesan playing Bommu. BR Pantulu’s movie dialogues have gained common usage in Tamil language in every context that is appropriate. A great box-office success, it was premierred in London and then released in India. It ran for 25 weeks continually and was even dubbed in Hindi as Amar Shaheed. It also received a ‘Certificate of Merit ' at the Afro-Asian Film Festival in Cairo.

Among the five hundred odd Tamil folk ballads, Kattabomman Kathai (Story of Kattabomman) remains the most popular along with that of Raja Desing. Scholars like S Ganeshram have rendered the Tamil version into English.

Media reports of peasant activists in Karnataka and erstwhile Andhra Pradesh even show that Kattabomman’s dialogues (from the movie of course, but drawn from historical records, as the below given evidence suggests) have been used to drive home the message of their agitations to authorities concerned.

Source: Mukund, Kanakalatha, The View from Below: Indigenous Society, Temples, and the Early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700-1835, Orient Blackswan: New Delhi. 2005

[1] A Star Pagoda was the coin of exchange in Southern Provinces from 1740 to 1807. Each coin weighed 3.4 gms in gold and carried Vishnu on the Obverse and a star on the reverse.

[2] Treaty with the Nabob Mahomad Ali dated 1 2th July 1792,  in  Collection of Treaties with the Native Princes and States of Asia concluded on behalf of the East India Company, 1812, United East India Company(Publisher): London, P  424-433.

Note & Acknowledgement: The above material is a short synthesis of the study on Veerapandia Kattabomman that the Author has undertaken. The study is guided by the curiosity to find the full and correct version of the political and economic circumstances leading to the eventual hanging of Kattabomman in 1799. The lives of main players in the historical stage viz., Jackson, Lushington and Major Bannerman will be visited in the subsequent posts. Author wishes to place his acknowledgement and gratitude to sources in public domain where

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[1] A Star Pagoda was the coin of exchange in Southern Provinces from 1740 to 1807. Each coin weighed 3.4 gms in gold and carried Vishnu on the Obverse and a star on the reverse.