June 16 passed as yet another day on Thursday. But 221 years ago in 1801, it was on that date, the Marudu Brothers, the rulers of the Sivaganga, made a declaration in which they gave an open call to people to destroy not just the British but all Europeans, whom the brothers referred to as “low wretches”.
The declaration, a first call in India for taking up arms against the British, led to a fierce war in which the Marudu Brothers were defeated, hanged and their family members exiled.
The declaration was known as Jampatheevu Prakadanam or Srirangam Prakadanam, since its notices were affixed on the walls of the Tiruchi Fort and those of the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. Jampatheevu, known as Navalantheevu in Tamil, is another name for India as it is surrounded by the sea on three sides. Vaishnavite saint Periyazhwar refers to the country as “ Navalamperiya Theevu.”
