This region was not British territory, and pretending otherwise would misdescribe everything in it. Nanjil Nadu was part of Travancore, a princely state, until 1956: there was no Company collector, no British police force and no Congress district committee here for most of the period, and no rising against colonial rule after 1809. Resistance took two other forms instead. The first was conflict with Travancore's own administration — the Dalawa's revolt of 1808–09, the long dispute over dress in the southern taluks between 1813 and 1859, and the campaign over temple access that ended with the proclamation of 1936. The second was a religious and social movement that arose in this district itself: Ayya Vaikundar's teaching from 1833, which made communal bathing and dining across caste lines its central practice and which the state imprisoned him for in 1838. Organised anti-colonial politics arrived here late, with the Travancore State Congress of February 1938, and the questions that dominated the region's politics immediately afterwards lie outside the period this file covers.
Velu Thampi's revolt1808–1809
The Dalawa of Travancore, Velu Thampi of Thalakulam, broke with the Company Resident over the demand for arrears on the subsidy. Attacks on Company garrisons were mounted in December 1808 and January 1809 in concert with Paliyath Achan of Cochin, and on 11 January 1809 he issued a proclamation at Kundara calling on the country to resist.
Outcome: The rising was defeated by February 1809; Velu Thampi died at Mannadi. Travancore's military and internal security passed effectively to the Company thereafter.
The upper-cloth question in southern Travancore1813–1859
A prolonged dispute over the dress permitted to women of particular communities under Travancore's caste regulations, concentrated in the southern taluks. An order of 1813 allowed Christian converts to cover the breast; a proclamation of 1829 refused the same permission to others; the question was fought out in petitions, missionary representations and local disturbances over the following three decades, with renewed violence in 1858.
Outcome: A royal proclamation of 26 July 1859 granted the right generally, ending the restriction in law.
Ayya Vaikundar and the Ayyavazhi movement1833–1851
From 1833 Muthukutty, known as Ayya Vaikundar, preached at Swamithope in this district, teaching communal bathing and dining across caste lines, a plain form of worship without Brahminical mediation, and the establishment of small shrine-centres called Nizhal Thangals. The Travancore state held him at Singarathoppe from 1838; he was released on 26 March 1839.
Outcome: The movement continued after his death in 1851 through the Nizhal Thangal network and the Akilathirattu Ammanai, its principal text, and remains a distinct religious tradition of this district.
The temple entry campaign1924–1936
Campaigns against the exclusion of particular communities from temples and temple roads ran across Travancore from the Vaikom satyagraha of 1924–25 onward, and were argued in the state's own legislature as well as on the roads.
Outcome: The Temple Entry Proclamation of 12 November 1936 opened Travancore's temples to worshippers previously excluded by caste.