Muhammad Yusuf Khan (born Maruthanayagam Pillai) was a commandant of the British East India Company's Madras Army. He was born in a Tamil Vellalar family in a village called Keelapanaiyur in British India, which is now in Mudukulathur Taluk, Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu, India. He converted to Islam and was named Muhammad Yusuf Khan. He was popularly known as Khan Sahib when he became the ruler of Madurai. He became a warrior in the Arcot troops, and later a commandant for the British East India Company troops. The British and the Arcot Nawab employed him to suppress the Puli Thevar (a.k.a. Palayakkarar) uprising in South India. Later he was entrusted to administer the Madurai country when the Madurai Nayak rule ended.
A dispute arose with the British and Arcot Nawab, and three of Khan's associates were bribed to capture him. He was captured during his morning prayer (Thozhugai) and hanged on 15 October 1764 at Sammatipuram near Madurai. Local legends state that he survived two earlier attempts at hanging, and that the Nawab feared Yusuf Khan would come back to life and so had his body dismembered and buried in different locations around Tamil Nadu.
Early years Maruthanayagam Pillai was born in 1725 in the village of Keelapanaiyur in a Hindu family of Tamil Vellalar clan, in what is now Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, India.https://archive.org/stream/cu31924024059259#page/n17/mode/2up Yusuf Khan: The Rebel Commandant by S.C.Hill-1914, History of Tinnevelly by Caldwell) Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield – who was in the service of Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah, the Nawab of Arcot, for three years – mentions in his Genuine Memoirs of Asiaticus that Yusuf Khan was of royal extraction and high descent.Genuine Memoirs of Asiaticus 2nd ed, 1785, page 160 The Scots Magazine (1765, page 264) tells of a letter written by a gentleman in the East Indies to a friend in Scotland, from the military camp before Palamcottah, dated 22 October 1764 (a week after his hanging), where in Yusuf Khan is said to be 'descended from the ancient seed of that nation'. According to an ancient Tamil manuscript Pandiyamandalam, Cholamandalam Poorvika Raja Charithira Olungu, the Pandiyan dynasty in Madurai was founded by one Mathuranayaga Pandiyan (Mathuranayagam). Yusuf Khan was believed to be his descendant.
Being too restless in his youth, Yusuf Khan left his native village, and later lived with the company of his martial arts master and converted to Islam.Yusuf Khan: the rebel commandant By Samuel Charles HillB.C. Law volume By Devadatta Ramakrishna Bhandarkar, pg. 231 He served the French Governor Jacques Law in Pondicherry. It was here he befriended another Frenchman, Marchand (a subordinate of Jacques Law), who later became captain of the French force under Yusuf Khan in Madurai. Whether Yusuf Khan was dismissed from this job or left on his own is unclear. He left Pondicherry, for Tanjore and joined the Tanjorean army as a sepoy (foot soldier).
Education and early career Around this time, an English captain named Brunton educated Yusuf Khan, enabling him to become proficient in languages such as Tamil, French, Portuguese, English, Arabic, and Urdu. With his ambition, he learned these languages. He later relocated to Nellur and assumed the titles of magistrate, civil officer, and superintendent. From Tanjore, he moved to Nellore (in present-day Andhra Pradesh), where he pursued a career as a native physician under Mohammed Kamal, in addition to his military career. He progressed through the ranks, starting as a Thandalgar (tax collector), then becoming a Havildar, and eventually achieving the rank of Subedar. This is how he is referred to in English records, as the 'Nellore Subedar' or 'Nellore Subedar.' He later enlisted under Chanda Sahib who was then the Nawab of Arcot. While staying in Arcot he fell in love with a 'Portuguese' Christian (a loose term for a person of mixed Indo-European descent or Luso-Indian) girl named Marcia (Marcia de Carvalho), and married her.
Carnatic wars In 1751, there was an ongoing struggle for the throne of Arcot, between Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah, who was the son of the previous Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan, and his relative Chanda Sahib. The former sought the help of British and the latter the French. Chanda Sahib initially succeeded, forcing Muhammad Ali to escape to the rock-fort in Tiruchirapalli which was put under siege. Ensign Robert Clive led a small English force of 300 soldiers on a diversionary attack on Arcot, and Chanda Sahib dispatched a 10,000-strong force under his son Raza Sahib, aided by the Nellore Army of which Yusuf Khan was a Subedar. At Arcot, and later at Kaveripakkam, Chanda Sahib's son was badly defeated by Clive, and Chanda Sahib withdrew and was killed. The East India Company quickly installed Muhammad Ali as the Nawab of Arcot and most of Chanda Sahib's native forces defected to the British.
Under Major Stringer Lawrence, Yusuf Khan was trained in the European method of warfare and displayed a talent for military tactics and strategy. Over the next decade, as the British East India Company continued to fight the French East India Company in the Carnatic Wars, Yusuf Khan's guerrilla tactics, repeatedly cutting the French lines of supply, greatly hampered the French efforts.
By 1760, Yusuf Khan had reached the zenith of his career as the 'all-conquering' military commandant. (A few years earlier he had been given the rank of 'Commandant of Company's sepoys'). His greatest supporter during this period was George Pigot, the English governor in Madras. Yusuf Khan was held in very high esteem even after his death in battle and in the opinion of the British he was one of the two great military geniuses India had ever produced (the other being Hyder Ali of Mysore). Yusuf Khan was regarded for his strategy and Hyder Ali for his speed. Major General Sir. John Malcolm said of him almost fifty years later, "Yusuf Khan was by far the bravest and ablest of all the native soldiers that ever served the English in India".
Control of Madurai When Muhammad Ali was installed as the Nawab of Arcot, he owed a significant debt to the British East India Company, to whom he had granted the tax collection rights of the Madurai kingdom. This move led to a conflict between the British and the Polygars, influential feudal administrators who were unwilling to pay taxes to the weak Nawab and refused to recognize British tax collectors. In 1755, in an attempt to quell the rebellious Polygars, the Nawab and the British dispatched an army to the south under the leadership of Col. Heron, along with the Nawab's brother Mahfuz Khan, who was accompanied by Yusuf Khan as his bodyguard. Mahfuz Khan and Heron conducted raids in the countryside, which infuriated Yusuf Khan. He subsequently lodged a complaint with the British authorities, leading to a court-martial of Heron.
There were several instances of rebellion by the Kallars against paying taxes to the Muslim and British invaders. In 1755, Colonel Heron led an expedition against the Poligar of Kumaravadi, Lackenaig (Lakshmi Naik), whose Governor Mayana had taken refuge at the temple of Kovilkudi in Tirumbur Village. Colonel Heron and Yusuf Khan led the soldiers in burning down the temple. During this incident, an idol revered by the Kallars was removed and held for a ransom of Five Thousand Rupees. Since the Kallars were unable to pay, the idol was melted down. This action by Colonel Heron was condemned by the Madras Council of the East India Company as unworthy of an English officer, considering the potential prejudice it might cause among the natives towards England. These events were followed by the Vellaloor Massacre in 1767, in which around 5,000 Kallars were massacred, greatly angering Yusuf.
The East India Company sent Muhammad Yusuf Khan back to Madurai with the promotion of Commando Khan. After taking office as the Governor of Madurai, he started suppressing those who rebelled against the British alliance. In July 1759, he hanged the leader of the Kallars who fought in Madurai and 500 Kallars who fought with him in one day at Thiruparankundram. The punishment given by him was to make the other camp residents afraid.
In March 1756, Yusuf Khan was sent to Madurai to collect taxes and restore order. Madurai was then under control of Barkadthullah (with the support of Hyder Ali of Mysore), who had angered the locals by allowing an old fakir to prepare to build a dargah (Islamic tomb) for himself atop the Madurai Meenakshi Temple. Yusuf Khan arrived with as little as 400 troops, defeating Barkadthullah's large army, forcing him to flee to Sivaganga Zamin with the fakir likewise expelled.
Disturbances continued to prevail in Madurai. The Kallars ravaged the country; Hyder Ali was with difficulty beaten off, and little revenue could be collected. The British failed to convince the Nawab to recall his brother, Mahfuz Khan, who may have been the cause of the trouble. Soon after, to meet their needs elsewhere, they compelled the withdrawal of Yusuf Khan. His departure was the signal for wilder anarchy, and company's garrison in Madurai could only collect taxes from the country directly under its walls in order to support themselves.
The Company later sent Yusuf Khan back, renting both Madurai and Tinnevelly to him for one lakh (100,000 rupees) per annum. Yusuf Khan by the spring of 1759 began cutting roads through the woods to pursue bands of armed robbers plaguing the countryside. Through the relentless pursuit and execution of criminals, he brought the country to order and the Polygars into submission. He also renovated the forts damaged by Hyder Ali. All of these actions increased revenue to the Nawab and British, and made himself extremely powerful.
Controversial wars with Palayakkars
During this time Yusuf Khan battled with Puli Thevar, a Polygar of Nerkattumseval (a small town to the south-west of Madurai), who was rebelling against the Nawab and the British. Yusuf Khan first convinced the Raja of Travancore to make an alliance with the Nawab, breaking his alliance with Puli Thevar. Yusuf Khan successfully captured some of Puli Thevar's forts where Mohammed Ali had previously failed. However, in 1760, Yusuf Khan faced a minor setback in his attempt to capture Vasudevanallur, one of Puli Thevar's principal forts. He met some backlash by Puli Thevar in some battles, marking the first time in his military career that he had experienced such backlash. Nonetheless, he eventually succeeded in his second attempt. Puli Thevar later escaped from Sankarankovil and vanished from the pages of history for a couple of years. Puli Thevar is today recognized by the Government of Tamil Nadu as a freedom fighter.
Also during this time, Yusuf Khan successfully repulsed an attempt by the Dutch to capture of the town of Alwartirunagari and chased them back to their ships anchored at Tuticorin.
Dispute with Arcot Nawab As Yusuf Khan's victories accumulated and his reputation grew, the Arcot Nawab became jealous and feared that he might be deposed. To reduce his power, the Nawab ordered that taxes for the region be paid directly to his administration instead of that of Yusuf Khan. British Governor Lord Pigot advised Yusuf Khan to heed the Nawab's wishes, and British traders supported this as they viewed Yusuf Khan as the Nawab's employee. Meanwhile, a scheme was planned by the Nawab and his brother Mahfuz Khan to poison Yusuf Khan.