Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/52

 Travancore.

NO authentic history of the foundation of this State is available, it being all shrouded in myths and legends. A tradition, however, is preserved that the whole of the Malabar coast was reclaimed from the sea by the powerful Shri Parashram, and peopled several thousands of years ago by a colony of Brahmans from over the ghauts; and that afterwards, some form of government becoming necessary, Kshatriyas, or chiefs of the warrior race, were invited and elected to rule for cycles of twelve years These eventually got a permanent footing in the country; and the last of them, named Cheraman Perumal, who held sway over the whole coast, parcelled out his dominions among his children, the eldest of whom got for his share the southernmost portion, and a small village, now known as Tiruvankadu, which was the then capital. This event is said to have taken place about 1,200 years ago, and the present dynasty may, therefore, be presumed to have begun from at least this period.

Though commercial relations between Europe and Travancore are said to have existed so far back as the time of the Romans, no reliable account of it is now extant. At a very early period, a colony of Jews settled on the coast, and later on a colony of Syrian Christians was brought over by a merchant, Kona Thoma, and domiciled in the country. The more recent relations with the West date, of course, from the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, by which route, first the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and lastly the English came to the shores of India, with no other object in view but commerce.

The English settled at Anjingo, where they obtained permission to build a factory in 1684 A.D., and located a commercial Resident, who used to supply the Travancore Raja with military clothing, arms, and ammunition in exchange for pepper and other valuable products of the country Travancore at this time was engaged in petty wars with several neighbouring chiefs, and was generally victorious in each of them, having a considerable army disciplined after European model and commanded by either Portuguese, Dutch, or Italian officers, who, coming out as soldiers of fortune, enlisted themselves in the military service of the Raja. This will explain why Travancdtte was at that time in need of European arms -and ammunition. The great historical events, which occurred in Southern India about this time, soon transformed the purely com' mercial relations with foreigners into political alliances; and during the wars with Hyder AH and Tipu, Travancore was the steadfast ally of the British, and was included as such in the Treaty of 1784 A.D. between the Hon'ble .East India Company and the Sultan. Subsequently, the invasion of Malabar by the latter created an apprehension in the mind of the Raja of Travancore and led' to the agreement of 1788 A.D., by which the assistance of certain military forces of the Hon'ble East India Company was secured, the cost of them being borne by Travancore and paid in cash or in pepper.

In 1795 A.D. another treaty was concluded between the Hon'ble East India Company and the Raja, by which the three districts claimed by Tipu were restored to Travancore, and the Hon'ble East India Company engaged to protect the latter from all foreign invasions, on payment of the annual cost of three battalions of sepoys, a company