Nair Brigade | orgin

Travancore 's army was modernized by Marthanda Varma, who is regarded as "the Builder of Modern Travancore." Kumaraswamy Pillai, who was a veteran soldier, became the first Commander in Chief of His army. The Lieutenant Commander was made Thanu Pillai, brother of the then Dalawa Arumukham Pillai. He defeated the Dutch army with the Nair Brigade in 1741 at the Battle of Colachel and captured the Dutch officer Captain Eustachius De Lannoy. Marthanda Varma decided to save the Dutch captain 's life on condition that he joined his army and trained his soldiers on modern lines.

In 1818, the Travancore Army was reorganized as the Travancore Nair Brigade. Since 1935, the Travancore Army has been considered part of the Indian Armed Forces. The units were known as Infantry First, Second, and Third Travancore. The State Forces comprised infantry units, the State Forces Artillery, the Travancore Training Centre, the Sudarsan Guards and the State Forces Band. The Nair Brigade was incorporated into the Indian Army as the 9th Battalion Madras Regiment (1st Travancore) and the 16th Battalion of the Madras Regiment (2nd Travancore) in 1954 with the incorporation of the State into the Indian Union.

During the 1700s and 1800s Travancore's Nair Army was very strong. Later, the Nair Brigade headcount was diminished with the rise of the English East India Company, and with Travancore signing a treaty handing over security to the Company's army.

In 1945, Travancore Nair Army had a total strength of 4,082 men, of whom 84 were officers and 132 were JCOs. Some of this force was incorporated into the Indian Army (Travancore-Cochin united forces), while the remaining forces were disbanded. Trivandrum was declared the headquarters of the united command, after the merger of Travancore and Cochin armies. Major General V.N. Parameswaran Pillai, the Travancore Nair army's GOC, became the united forces commandant.The united force was divided into five battalions for the infantry (Travancore-I, II , III and IV, Cochin I). Unification took place on 20 May 1949 under the command of Major General V.N. Parameswaran Pillai of Travancore and Lt Col G.S. Subbiah of Cochin. At last, the united armies of Travancore-Cochin were either dissolved or integrated into the Indian Army and Major General V.N. Parameswaran Pillai was allowed to retire.

The first party of Cochin Kingdom State Forces was also named in 1940 as the Nair Brigade. In 1945 Kerala Varma changed the name of the Brigade to Cochin State Forces and allowed non-Nairs to be admitted to his army as well. After the Travancore Army's merger with the Indian Forces, the Pazhavangadi Ganapathi Temple in Thiruvananthapuram which the Brigade held and owned was transferred to the Indian Army as well.