Biography
Kunjali Marakkar was the title inherited by the Admiral of the fleet of the King Samoothiri / Zamorin, the King of Calicut, in present-day Kerala, India. There were four Marakkars whose war tactics defended against the Portuguese invasion from 1520 to 1600. The Kunjali Marakkars are credited with organizing the first naval defense of the Indian coast. Indian Navy commissioned INS Kunjali in their memory on 11 July 1954, with Captain Michael Benjamin Samuel, VSM, as the first Commanding Officer.