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Struggle in Neyyoor Region
Struggle in Neyyoor region took place on 25th of December 1858. It was a fight between the Nairs and Christians in which the latter was shoved by the former.

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Struggle in Neyyoor region was one of the violent revolts witnessed by the Christians in Travancore. The high caste especially the Nairs manhandled the Christians they came across. The Christian women who were clad with jackets were assaulted and jackets were torn. The Nadars were the target of the attacks as they were Christian converts. Many of them fled away to safer regions. Almost all the villages of Neyyoor were attacked.

The women and children took shelter in the Mission Bungalow. The Nairs took four people belonging to Kallankuzhi village in custody and thrashed them heavily. They were, however, released after a span of thirty five days. Thereafter two churches of this village were burned down. Agasteeswarem and Thovalai taluks were also affected. In the James Town village three houses of the Nadars were blazed off. Riot like situation also developed at Kottar near Nagercoil. The Nadar Christians were attacked by the Nairs and Vellalas. Under the guidance of Vaidiyalingam Pillai and Neelam Pillai many Vellalas and Nairs assembled and assaulted the Christians with sticks and cutting knives. Even the women were not spared. They had also planned to burn the church and the school thereby ensuring the death of catechist and the school teacher. Therefore the Church and missionary schools were closed for many weeks. Furthermore similar riots took place in Kumarapuram, Iraviputhur and Marungoor, Aralvaimozhi, Chemponvilai and Kattuputhoor villages.

In many places, Christians were dragged to render Ooliam services to the Hindu Temples on Sundays. They were forced to mark Hindu symbols on their forehead thereby giving up Christianity as the religion followed. In Agasteeswarem, the Nadar Christians planned to counter attack the Nairs and gathered people and raised funds. They had sought the help of the Tirunelveli Nadars. A group of people consisting of Muslims, Chetties and others were roaming about Aramanoor, Puthenkarai and Thirupuram markets with a view to attack Christians. The Nairs especially were against the spread of Christianity and people specifically Nadars

Interference of Missionaries
When uprising had reached the point of zenith the missionaries like John Cox, Russell, Whitehouse, Lewis and Baylis jointly complained to the British Resident who stayed in Travancore. The king was directly told about the sufferings of the Christians. However they got no aid from the King. He went to British Governor at Madras, Charles Trevelyan. The Madras governor had in turn asked General Cullen to do something to save Christians from the Nair oppression. The Dewans and Maharaja agreed to some extent succumbing to the pressure of the government of Madras. Accordingly on 26 July 1859, the Travancore Government permitted all the Nadar women to wear jackets like the Christian Nadar women, irrespective of religion. They were not permitted to imitate the Nair women`s dressing style. With the missionary efforts all dress restrictions imposed on all castes were abolished. Some restrictions like these were removed to give some relief to the Nadars.

As time passed by, all the restrictions were eliminated gradually. However the enmity that arose between the Nairs and the Nadars remained uncertain. It emerged again in the twentieth century. The liberation was the privilege accomplished by the continuous attempts of the Nadars, with the help of the Protestant Christian Missionaries and cooperation of the British Residents residing in Travancore.


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