Udhagamandalam :
As Europe celebrates the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, which changed the history of the continent, the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu too has found a reason to mark the occasion. Fifteen years before leading the British troops against Napoleon in 1815, the hero of Waterloo, Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, described by Queen Victoria as ‘the greatest man England ever produced’, was on the borders of Nilgiris fighting the Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of Wayanad. Details of this lesser known battle have been documented by the Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC).
As the governor of Mysore, after the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799, Wellesley had to personally intervene to put down resistance from local chieftains, including Pazhassi Raja, who were believed to have been promised material support by Napoleon himself. Within a year, Kerala Varma was wandering the jungles of Wynad to stay free and was finally captured in 1805, historical records available with the NDC confirm. NDC director Dharmalingam Venugopal says, “Though the Nilgiris is situated in a remote part of South India, its history is intertwined with national and international history”.
“Though Wellesley never visited the Nilgiris uplands, he had advocated establishing a sanatorium on the hills for British troops as recommended by John Sullivan in 1832,” adds Venugopal. According to him, Col John Ouchterlony chose the site of present day Wellington town for the sanatorium and a close associate of Wellesley, the Marques of Tweeddale, started work on a military barracks in 1851. After the death of Wellesley in 1852, the Marques suggested naming the military barracks after Wellesley. However, it was his successor, governor Sir Charles Trevelyan, who named the place Wellington in 1860. Historians too confirm the Nilgiris link to the Battle of Waterloo. Noted historian Narasiah says Wellesley fought Tipu in 1799.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Shanta Thiagarajan, TNN / June 23rd, 2015