guidance of Raja, who felt the expulsion of Ambu was another of his uncle's conspiracies to undermine him. Raja feared that the East India Company planned to seize him [not knowing that their truce terms were kept blocked from him by his uncle] and retreated into the depths of Wayanad. Company troop build-up in Wayanad also amplified his doubts. However, Raja was still eager to avoid a war and came to meet the Northern Superintendent with a bodyguard of 1500 armed Nayars. Vira Varma Raja was also ordered to be present. Pazhassi Raja's main demand was that Kottayam must be under his rule, a demand to which his uncle was not ready to accede. The EIC Commissioners' attitude also was arrogant; they were already prejudiced against Raja and were therefore blind towards Raja's logical argument that Vira Varma had no business in Kottayam. As talks broke down, the Commissioners' issued a proclamation in Kottayam that if those Kottayam men in service of Raja did not desert him and come home, they would be declared enemies and their properties confiscated. But this proclamation had little effect in Kottayam where resistance to Company-Kurumbranad rule became stronger. The East India Company, to their horror, found out that a large number of Vira Varma's troops had deserted to join ranks of insurgents and Vira Varma himself was not much interested to help the Company; after all his aim was to create a flare-up between his nephew and the EIC for sake of pure self-interest. Raja then visited the Mysorean commandant at Karkankotta in 1796 and in 1797 held an audience with his old enemy Tipu in Mysore, who posted 6000 men at Karkankotta to aid Raja in case of war and to supply ammunition to rebels. He also began to collect troops and armaments. War was imminent. 1200 troops and artillery under a Major General was sent by the Bombay Government to deal with Pazhassi. The Company also began to set up outposts in Kottayam and sent more troops to Wayanad. In early 1797, the Nayar militia uprose all over Kottayam and Company outposts were trapped in a true state of siege. Partisan bands became active all over Kottayam and harassed reinforcements and supply convoys. The case was similar in Wayanad where East India Company troops that moved out of the safety of their garrisons risked being harried by Kurichia bowmen. The EIC suffered