The 9th battalion of the Madras Regiment (Travancore) has completed 300 years in Indian service. The battalion was raised in 1704 at Padmanabhapuram in Kalkulam taluk of Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. Padmanabhapuram was the erstwhile capital of Travancore State. Raised as personal bodyguards to the Maharaja of Travancore, the unit, though redesigned through the ages, continues to retain its individual identity with no history of disbandment or re-raising. The Travancore Army known as the Nair Brigade completely exterminated the superior and better equipped Dutch Forces which landed at Colachal in July 1741 during the reign of Anizham Thirunal Veer Bala Marthand Varma. In the battle of Colachal, Capt Eustachius De Lannoy, the Dutch Naval Forces Commander, was captured who was asked la