You might not spot it between a cluster of newly constructed houses and thick, wild shrubbery. Only a part of what was once a strategic fort now remains visible. There are no protection measures or notifications. The craggy ruins, the last of a historic fort, stands set to irreparable damage.
Manjaly on the Athani-North Paravur road, on the banks of the Periyar, was once a flourishing trade centre. Till recently, till the bridge that connected it to the mainland was constructed, Manjaly remained largely cut off. The main road forks away at Manjaly junction. A narrow, tarred road bends and climbs up a gentle steep. This was the path that once led to the famous Manjaly market and now the one that leads to the Latin Catholic Church and the mosque. It is on this road, on the top of the steep, that the remains of the fort stand.
“The first time I came across this fort was in 2001. Then it was not all this bad. The whole structure could be seen, there were no houses around, and one could climb up and see the place. It resembled the Palippuram Fort, built in typical Portuguese architectural style. There was a big room and two ante-rooms. What stood out was a tall tower, this must have also served as a flagstaff. The walls had holes where canons must have been placed. Three years later, when I visited this site, the dilapidation had begun. A couple of houses had sprouted near by, the walls were damaged, plants and roots had come up. I tried bringing it to the attention of people concerned but nothing seems to have happened,” informs Varghese Angamaly, a retired bank manager and local historian.
Research reveals that this fort must be the one mentioned in V. Nagam Aiya’s Travancore State Manual (TSM) Volume I. In the chapter on Archaeology where a list of forts in Travancore are recorded there is a mention of Parasuraman Kotta (fort). TSM states in detail that this fort was located in Alangad Taluk, as property of the Aiyrur Swarupam, on the banks of the Periyar. The manual gives measurements and architectural specifications that match the ruined one at Manjaly. “TSM records that the fort was built of laterite stone and chunnambu (limestone) and divided into two parts one 53x14 and the other 27x22 feet in width and nine feet in height and built on a hillock. The walls were built with a thickness of five feet. The Manjaly fort fits these specifications to a T,” avers Varghese.
Some of the elders at Manjaly recall how this fort was visible from the banks of the river, a tributary of Periyar, that flows close by. In fact, they say that this was a landmark, though no one really thought of protecting it. The woodwork, the rafters are all gone, and the fort has now turned into a sort of compound wall for some of the newly built houses. They also talk of a tunnel from the fort that led to the ferry where huge laterite blocks in the water shut, what they believe, the opening of one end of the tunnel.
The fort was used as a storage place for essential commodities, firearms and gun powder. “Trade, as we know, was what brought all the foreign powers to our State. Conflicts and war were a natural outcome. Being placed ideally along the important water route, Manjaly was a very important trade centre. Sometime in the 1700s Travancore annexed Alangad Taluk, of which Manjaly formed a part, from Cochin, because of its importance in trade, especially pepper, tobacco, and salt. In 1801 Velu Thampi Dalawa established a market here. He did this to end the Thachil Mathu Tharakan’s monopoly over trade. Dalawa must also have used this fort. The market extended to the ferry, almost a kilometre long. Later, communal clashes forced the shifting of this market to Paravur.”
This shifting of the market dealt a death knell to the importance of Manjaly. “There are many historical records that show that Manjaly soon became a den of anti-socials, there were regular conflicts, sometime flaring up into communal clashes. For long Manjaly bore this reputation. This fort, a structure that dates back to 1503, the same time as some of the other forts in and around Kochi, was left to rot.”
Today, the ruins stand as a metaphor of what Manjaly once was. The remains are a reminder of history of this place where every power wanted to stake a claim. There is so much more to glean from a thorough exploration of the fort, which has perhaps never been done. Close to the Muziris project, the archaeological department can at least make a preliminary survey of this fort and preserve what remains of it before it goes to seed.
And who knows what historical treasures lie wrapped inside the layers of mud piled up in the fort.
