>there was a lesson about a King who ruled from Quilon (near Calicut), I
>forget his name, but the time frame was also the same near about 1800 or so.
>And if my memory is correct, his entire small tiny kingdom was beseiged
>by the same Duke's army for months together. Does anyone remember this?
It was in the English text of 8 th std.The only thing which comes to my mind is that there was reference to a place called Kottayam somewhere in the Malabar area(!).It could have been Pazhassi Raja as Arun had mentioned.