Thachil Mathoo Tharakan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thachil Mathoo Tharakan (1741 - 1814) played a key role in Kerala/Travancore-Cochin History towards the latter part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century.
Contents |
[edit] Trader & Exporter
He belonged to Alangad, near North Kuthiathode, in the present Aluva Taluk of Ernakulam District, Kerala, India. Mathoo had such an unusual life that he saw abysmal depths and dizzy heights in his lifetime. He was born into a well-to-do family. His father was the Minister of the King of Alangad, a Native State which was later annexed by Travancore, another Native State. Mathoo had a comfortable childhood. However, when his father had an untimely death, the fortune that he inherited made him a spend-thrift, and he literally squandered everything that he got. Although he thus became a pauper, the friends that he made during that period later took him to a position unimaginable to most people of the day. His powerful friends included the legendary Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, the Dutch commander who became head of the Travancore Army, and Colonel Munro, representative of the British East India Company and British Resident & Diwan in Travancore and political agent of Cochin Rajah. Through such friends he not only set up a highly successful trade, but also got introduced to the Kings of Travancore and Cochin.
Mathoo Tharakan thus became a leading trader and influential Christian leader, among the Syrian Christians of Kerala, India. The title 'tharakan' is granted by the King to indicate 'a noble trader'. Mathu Tharakan was a timber and spices merchant and was reportedly the first timber exporter from Southern India. He, along with Dewan Raja Kesavadas, built the Alappuzha port. He controlled the exports from Alappuzha and Cochin ports.
[edit] Minister of Travancore
Mathu Tharakan was Commerce Minister to Dharma Raja and Maharajah Bala Rama Varma of Travancore. His best years were during the reign of Dharma Raja, when Raja Kesavadas was the Dewan. However, during the following period of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri's Dewanship, there was an uprising and revolt engineered by Velu ThampiDalawa. This led to Velu Thampi becoming the Dalawa (Prime Minister) in 1801. Velu Thampi Dalawa punished Mathu Tharakan considering Tharakan's friendship with the former Dewan. He ordered confiscation of Mathoo Tharakan's landholdings and assets alleging that Mathu Tharakan had to pay huge revenue arrears to the Government of Travancore. This order was later got cancelled by the British Resident. Velu Thampi's subsequent revolt against the British led to Velu Thampi's suicide in 1809 in Mannadi Temple, Adoor.
[edit] Social & Religious Leader
Mathu Tharakan's leadership in the Syrian Christian community during this period is noteworthy. The Udayamperoor (Diampher) Synod held by the Portuguese in 1599 to Latinize the indigenous Christian liturgy led to the Koonan Kurisu Declaration/revolt Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. As a result, the Jacobite Orthodox Syrians separated from the Syrian Catholics in Kerala. Nearly a century later, Thachil Mathoo Tharakan made attempts at reunion of the Christian communities. But his efforts were apparently thwarted by the Portuguese. His efforts had the support of Bishop Joseph Kariattil of the Syrian Catholics and the support of Bishop Mar Dionysius I of the Jacobite faction. But Bishop Kariattil's untimely and mysterious death in Goa and Rome's silence, ultimately led to the Jacobites remaining separate as Syrian Christians and the Syrian Catholics accepting the jurisdiction of the Latin Bishops in India.
M. O. Joseph Nedumkunnam wrote a biography of Mathoo Tharakan, and the book is titled 'Thachil Mathoo Tharakan'.
[edit] Snippets
- Tharakan had mainly exported teak-wood to Britain. During the Napoleonic wars, Britain used this wood for making battleships. When Admiral Nelson defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Trafalgar, the quality of the ships of the British Navy is also said to have played an important role. The French Navy could not match the quality of the teak-built ships of the British. Tharakan thus played an indirect role in the famous battle!
- During war time, when the flow of funds from Britain for the day-to-day functioning of their establishment here was disrupted, Tharakan advanced money to them. Years later, after the war when accounts were being settled by the British, Tharakan had died and his successors were not traceable. The money advanced, along with a huge amount of interest, was therefore distributed to some of the churches here.
- When King Rama Varma of Travancore invited Tharakan to become a minister, he expressed a reservation that being a regular church-goer, he would have difficulty as there were no churches in Trivandrum. The great "Dharma Raja" then arranged for a church to be built for his convenience. That church is now known as St Anne's Forane Church, Pettah under the Latin Arch-Diocese of Trivandrum.
[edit] References
- Francis Thonippara, 'Saint Thomas Christians of India--a period of struggle for unity and self-rule, 1775-1787,
- M.O. Joseph Nedumkunnam, Thachil Mathu Tharakan, (Malayalam) Kottayam, NBS, 1962,
