In year 1753, 3 January, a boy was born to the Kottayam Royal Family in the village of Pazhassi in Kannaur. His name was Kerala Varman, who later came to be known as Pazhassi Raja. He is also known as Kerala Simhan. His rise begins in year 1773, during Hyder Ali's second invasion of Malabar. The Nair chieftains of the area fled and among them the king of Kottayam. The Kottayam Kingdom comprised of Thalasseri Taluka and Wayanad district of Kerala. What Hyder Ali and later his son, Tipu Sultan and even the British wanted was the profitable spice trade routes of the Malabar Coast. In 1793, He led his kingdom to victory with help of the British at the age of 21. He had signed a treaty with British which led to Malabar being ceded too British. Later, he realized that the British had no interest in restoring the Kottayam Royal Family to power, he started revolting against them. British staked claim for the area ruled by him, citing the Treaty of Seringapatam signed with Tipu Sultan. So, they installed his uncle, Vira Varman, to the throne, reducing the king's power, while the real power remained in the hands of the British resident. Seeing the discontent among the subjects, Vira Varman encouraged Pazhassi to revolt more actively.

Since he was against the exploitation of people by the British, he stopped Vira Varman's men from collecting taxes. This made British furious and in 1769, they sent a force comprising of 300 soldiers to attack his palace. He managed to escape and hid in the jungles of Wayanad and with the help of his men and tribal warriors started planning revenge, which was successful as Pazhassi was well versed in the use of Guerilla warfare. This laid the foundation of one the greatest war going to be fought between the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley and Pazhassi Raja, in which the British troops lost the war. Even though by that time, the duke had defeated the Marathas and would defeat Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, he could defeat this Braveheart. On November 30, 1805, a person had found out the location of the area where Pazhassi was camping, gave the information to Thomas Hervey Baber, who was the sub-collector. He took a huge force and attacked the area. In this battle, Pazhassi Raja was killed or as the folklore states he consumed poison to avoid capture. But unlike other kings, who had died while fighting the British, the British cremated his body with full military honors at the same spot where he died.