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 CHAPTER VII

Invasion of Travancore

It will be remembered that in 1766 Haidar Alí overran Malabar. Among the chiefs who then tendered their submission was the Rájá of Cochin, whose territory abutted on that of the Travancore Rájá. In 1761 the Zamorin of Calicut had invaded Cochin. The Rájá had sought aid from his neighbour who despatched a force under General de Lanoy, which drove out the Zamorin, and the reward for this service was the cession of a tract of country on which fortifications were erected, extending thirty miles from an estuary on the coast to a range of inaccessible hills. A strong fort was built at Kariapilli on the coast, while a wall 20 feet thick and 12 feet high, with stone batteries and bastions at intervals, was constructed all along the frontier. It was further protected by a deep ditch, while bamboos and thorny shrubs were planted close to the wall on the side of the ditch. These defences were called the 'Travancore Lines,' and were intended to resist attacks from Malabar. Haidar, after his