Pazhassi Raja aimed to preserve the independence and unity of his kingdom while the East India Company was determined to annex and dismember it.

His own desire for independence and sense of betrayal by the East India Company on their earlier promise to respect his country's independence, combined with constant exhortations of two of his noblemen, Kaitheri Ambu and Kannavath Sankaran, led to outbreak of Cotiote War.

[1][2][3] The Cotiote army waged guerrilla warfare, chiefly centred in the mountain forests of Aralam and Wynad, and larger zone of conflict extended from Mysore to the Arabian Sea, from Coorg to Coimbatore.

The Cotiote army was well equipped with fire-locks,[7] but ran short of musket ammunition after 1799 and so used bows and swords widely.

10 years of war had caused an 80 percent loss in the East India Company ranks - both European officers and Sepoys.