Raja Kesavadas Statue

The statue of Raja kesavadas. But they are not even maintaining the surroundings not the statue.

No t much of a place to spend time , Just a monumental statue of Shri. Rajakesavadas who is renowned for his work with alappuzha town he's also known as the creator of alleppey town . This place is situated near .D college allapuzha facing directly to the A.C Road

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It is placed at west of national highway kalarkode junction.

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There is a building of keralauniversity. S.D college is situated some meters away from this statue.

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Statue and surroundings not maintained well.

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No entry fee. We can see it by standing on road side.

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Raja Kesavadas (1745-1799) was the Dewan of Travancoreduring the reign of Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. He is well known for his planning skills and administrative acumen. He was the master mind in developing the Alappuzha town.

Raja Kesavadas

Kesava Pillai also known as Raja Keshavadas (1745-1799; Sanskrit keśavadāsa) was the Dewan of Travancore during the reign of Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. He is well known for his planning skills and administrative acumen. He was the master mind in developing the Alappuzha town.
Currently we the people of SD COLLEGE CONDUCTED A CLEANING campaign and made it much more Beautiful
Situated at kalarkode
Near NH 66 road side
Alappuzha

The statue of the founder of our Alappuzha ( The Venice of the East). Raja Kesavadas was the Dewan of Travancore during the reign of Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. He was the master mind in developing the Alappuzha town. Raja Kesavadas was born as Kesava Pillai at a small hamlet called Kunnathur village Southern Travancore, in Kanyakumari district on March 17, 1745 in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Although he had little formal education, knowing his abilities in mathematics, Puthukkada Chettiyar, a wealthy merchant from Palliyadi, appointed Kesava Pillai as his accountant, he was appointed as the apprentice of Pokkumoosa Marickar, a leading merchant and exporter. Pokumoosa was faithful to the Maharaja of Travancore, Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma and during a visit to his palace Kesava Pillai accompanied him; the maharaja was impressed by the skills of Kesava Pillai and he was appointed to the Travancore palace. When Tippu Sultan of Mysore attacked Travancore, Kesava Pillai was the commandant of the state army.

Travancore army fought against the Mysore force under the leadership of Kesava Pillai and Tippu was forced to retreat. Recognizing his victory over the Mysore, the Karthika Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore appointed Kesava Pillai as Diwan of Travancore, he was glorified by the British Governor Mornington, by the title Raja in appreciation of his administrative talents. As Diwan, Raja Kesavadas was responsible for shifting the capital of Travancore from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram. Development of Alappuzha portHis all time contribution is finding an ideal location and constructing a well planned port city at Alappuzha, he found Alappuzha as the most suitable, because of the oceanic reasons. He constructed two parallel canals for bringing goods to port and offered infrastructural facilities to merchants and traders from Surat and Kutch to start industrial enterprises and cargo centres. Alappuzha became the financial nerve centre of Travancore during his time; the port was opened in 1762 for the export of coir-matting and coir-yarn.

Kesavadas built three ships for trade with Calcutta and Bombay, alleppey afforded a convenient depot for the storage and disposal of goods produce in the east. Construction of MC roadThe Main Central Road, the arterial State Highway in the Travancore region of Kerala state was constructed at the time when Raja Kesavadas was the dewan of travancore. Opening of Chalai MarketChalai Market was established towards end of 18th century by Raja Kesavadas with an intention to make this bazaar a central point for the supply of commodities to the Travancore kingdom. Killi and the Karamana rivers nearby were used to carry goods from different parts of Travancore state, his tenure of Diwan ended with demise of Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal in 1798. Balarama Varma, his successor aged fourteen became the crown prince, too young in the hands of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri. Raja Kesavadas was proclaimed as a traitor and kept under house arrest which helped Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri to usurp the post of Diwan.His family assets were confiscated and was poisoned to death on 21 April 1799.

Need to maintain this place properly

Raja Kesava Das was the Diwan of Travancore when Dharma Raja Kerala Varma Maharaja was ruling the country during the second half of 18th century.
He is famous as the "Maker of Modern Alappuzha" since he was the master mind In building this well planned port city.

Two canals were constructed parallel across the town from the lakes in the east to the western boundaries near the port. Roads were built on both sides of the canals and bridges built consecutively across the canals making Alappuzha a "Land of Bridges". It has made the transportation of goods to the port easy. His dream of a Port City came true when it was opened in 1762.

He was the first individual who rose to the position of Diwan of the State. His administrative capacity was par excellence for which British gave him the title of Raja. Some of his major contributions are Construction of Port City of Alappuzha, Construction of Main Central Road(MC Road), Kottayam and Opening of Chalai Market in Thiruvananthapuram.

With the demise of Dharma Raja his tenure as Diwan ended and his enemies rose to power. He was proclaimed a traitor, arrested and poisoned to death.

The statue of Raja Kesava Das is installed at the southern boundary of Alappuzha Town which is indebted to him.It is not maintained properly giving due respect to him.