Moolam Thirunal
Maharaja of Travancore
Sir Sri Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma VI (1857–1924) was Maharajah of the princely state of Travancore between 1885 and 1924, succeeding his uncle Maharajah Visakham Thirunal (1880–1885). Moolam Thirunal is considered as the first in India to implement the concept of public participation in governance through the formation of Travancore Legislative Council. Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma was born on 25 September 1857 to Prince Raja Raja Varma of the Changanassery Royal Family and Maharani Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore, niece of Maharajah Swathi Thirunal. His mother died when he was only a few days old. The Maharajah had an elder brother, Hastham Thirunal. After the usual vernacular Malayalam studies, the two princes were placed under the tutorship of Annaji Rao B.A. and later under Raghunath Rao B.A. at a country house built specially for the purpose. Hastham Thirunal soon had to stop his studies owing to ill health and so Rama Varma remained the only pupil under the tutor. He was initially taught subjects such as history, geography, arithmetic and grammar. His great-grandmother was the Maharani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore. The Travancore Legislative Council was established in 1888, three years after Moolam Thirunal became Maharajah. This was the first Legislative Council for a native state in the history of
India. It was later succeeded by the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly, the first legislature in Indian history to have elected members. In 1886 a proclamation was issued relieving people of the requirement to pay of penalties on documents executed on unstamped government cadjan leaves (paper was not yet in common use in Travancore). In 1887, the penalty for non payment of stamp duty was reduced as it was found to be a huge burden. The same year, another royal proclamation was passed relinquishing the right of the government in property left by a person under the Marumakkathayam matrilineal system of inheritance when a person died without heirs. Likewise under the then system, when a tenant of a Jenmi or landlord died heirless, instead of the land passing in entirety to the landlord, it passed with sovereign right to the government who auctioned it later. This was abolished. In 1888 the Anchal post system was improved with stamps of new values introduced. Moolam Thirunal's reign also saw major changes in the transport sector in Travancore. Several other reforms were also brought in by Moolam Thirunal in fields including education, medicine, law and order and the civil service. Sanitary departments were opened and female education progressed. Changes were brought in the management of prisons and the public works department was reorganised. A life insurance system was also introduced by the Maharajah. In 1898, in recognition of his accomplishments, the British rewarded Moolam Thirunal with the grant of a personal salute of 21 guns. In 1886, Thirunal allowed the construction of a paper mill in Punalur to be built by T.J. Cameroon. Upon completion, it became India's oldest paper mill. By the time of Raja's demise, the India Security Press had been a customer for the mill. Since the Royal House of Travancore followed the Nair Marumakkathayam system of matrilineal inheritance the presence of females was very essential in the family. Since the family had failed to exist in the female line, on the suggestion of Rani Lakshmi Bayi, two princesses, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and Sethu Parvathi Bayi were adopted from the cousin Royal family at Mavelikara. Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi succeeded Maharajah Moolam Thirunal Sir Rama Varma as Regent in 1924 till 1931, when her nephew & heir to the throne, Maharajah Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma attained the legal age and became the last Maharajah of Travancore. Maharajah Sir Rama Varma married twice, both noblewomen of the Thampi clan of the Nairs as tradition. His first wife (married in 1880) was Nagercoil Ammachi Panapillai Amma Srimathi Kunjulakshmi Pillai Anantha Lakshmi Pillai Kochamma, of the Nagercoil Ammaveedu family, whose aunt was the consort of Ayilyam Thirunal. She died prior to the Maharajah's accession to the throne in 1882 giving birth to an only son, Nagercoil Sri Narayanan Chempakaraman Thampi, who remained aide de camp to his father till his death. Following this the Maharajah remained single for more than a decade. The Maharajah's second wife was Vadasseri Ammachi Panapillai Amma Srimathi Lakshmi Pillai Karthyayani Pillai Kochamma, of the Vadasseri Ammaveedu family. She originally belonged to the Kaipally family of Palkulangara but was adopted before marriage to the Maharajah into the Vadasseri Ammaveedu in 1899. She was born to Krishnan Nair (Nagercoil Ammaveedu) and Lakshmi Amma. She was the sister of play writ and author, Vadasseri Krishnan Thampi, who also was the Principal (1917 to 1934) of Sanskrit College in Trivandrum. Her other two sisters were Kalyani Pillai Kochamma and Bhageerathi Pillai Kochamma. She was first married to T. Sankaran Thampi, Palace Manager, from which marriage she had a son, V. Sri Velayudhan Thampi in 1898. From her marriage to the Maharajah she had a daughter, Vadasseri Shrimathi Kartyayani Pillai Bhagavathi Pillai Kochamma, in June 1901. Her elder son was also adopted by Moolam.
The Nair Brigade was the army of the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore in India. Nairs were a warrior community of the region. The personal bodyguard of the king Marthanda Varma (1706–1758) was also called Thiruvithamkoor Nair Pattalam (Travancore Nair Army). The Travancore army was officially referred as the Travancore Nair Brigade in 1818. The headquarters of the brigade was in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). The Nairs are the major aristocratic martial caste of Kerala. Each region is governed or ruled by Nair landlords or leaders with titles such as Pillai, Kurup, Kaimals, etc. The military setup of Nairs includes Nair soldiers who are encompassed under Nair landlords. There are hundreds of Nair lords in each kingdom, and these Nair landlords unite in times of emergency or at the request of Rajas or kings. Sometimes, they have more power or influence over the kings. The army of Travancore was modernised by Marthanda Varma, who is known as "the maker of modern Travancore". The first Commander in Chief of his army was Kumaraswamy Pillai, who was a veteran soldier. Thanu Pillai, brother of then Dalawa Arumukham Pillai was made the Lieutenant Commander. He defeated the Dutch army with the Travancore army in 1741 at the Battle of Colachel and captured the Dutch commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy. Marthanda Varma agreed to spare the Dutch captain's life on the condition that he joined his army and trained his soldiers on modern lines. The Army of Travancore
was very strong during the 1700s. Later, after 1809 with the strengthening of English East India Company, and with Travancore signing a treaty handing over defense to the Company's army, the Nair Brigade headcount was reduced to 700 soldiers without arms and discipline, which was later increased to 1200 in number by request of then resident queen of Travencore, Gowri Parvati Bayi in 1819. The Travancore army was reorganised as the Travancore Nair Brigade in 1818.
The Maharaja of Travancore was the principal title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Travancore in the southern part of Kerala, India. The Travancore royal family was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Travancore. The Travancore royal family signed a treaty with the British in 1788, thereby adopting British dominance. Later, in 1805, they revised the treaty, leading to a diminution of royal authority and the loss of political independence for Travancore. They had to give up their ruling rights over the common people in 1949 when Travancore were forced to merge with Independent India and their political pension privileges were abolished in 1971. The royal family was alternatively known as the Kupaka Swaroopam, Thripappur Swaroopam, Venad Swaroopam, Vanchi Swaroopam etc. It
has its seat today at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. In the 18th century CE, the Travancore royal family adopted some members from the royal family of Kolathunadu based at Kannur, and Parappanad based in present-day Malappuram district. The family descends from ancient Kings. The first recorded inscription of the Venad chiefdom that later became Travancore is in the copper-plate grants of land and privileges on Jewish and Christian tradesmen. The grants were made by the rulers of Kerala, the Perumal Viceroys of South Indian Kingdoms of the West Coast who were deputed to rule Kerala and witnessed by Nair Chiefs including the then Chief of Venad. In the beginning, when aristocratic lineages rose to power, as in the case of small group broken away from its earlier tharavad through conquest. When they acquired office, these groups seem to have severed ties with their former lineages and clans and to have conferred on themselves, a higher ritual rank as independent castes. These myths are likely to have been created to add to the aura of the dynasty. According to existing myths, the founding members of the Travancore royal family are said to have come to Kerala, from the banks of the Narmada river. Another claim is that Parashurama himself crowned the first official ruler in the dynasty. There is a claim that their history can be traced back to 820 C.E, which is based on the claim of descent from the Later Cheras of the three southern Indian Mandala Kingdoms namely Chera Mandalam, Pandya Mandalam and Chola Mandalam. According to another legend, a branch of the Chera family was sent to the extreme north of the Kerala region, where they settled and came to be known as the Mooshika royal family, or the later Kolathiris, while another branch was deputed to go south to grapple with the Pandyan invasions. One of the two branches of the Chera dynasty shifted to Venad / Quilon where it merged with the Ay kingdom. Sangramadhira Ravivarman Kulasekhara (1266–1314) was the most famed ruler of this Chera Ay dynasty.Numerous places are named after this Chera-Ay dynasty. Ravi Varman invaded the territories of the Pandyas and Cholas and performed imperial coronations at Madurai and Kanchipuram and thus threw off the Pandyan hegemony in the region. However his success was short lived and after him his successors could not hold on to these acquisitions of the Pandyas and Cholas. Sangramadhira Ravivarman Kulasekhara adopted two princesses from the related Kolathiri dynasty called Attingal and Kunnumel Ranis in 1305 C.E. The line of kings after Ravi Varman followed the Marumakkathayam law of matrilineal succession. The royal family continued thus in the female line. Whenever there were no females to take forth the line, princesses were adopted from the Kolathiri family. Umayamma Rani who reigned towards the end of the 17th century was a prominent ruler. Marthanda Varma, the "maker of modern Travancore" and Dharma Raja were powerful rulers who re-established the power of monarchy in the state and destroyed that of the nobles. By the early 19th century the kingdom became a princely state under the British. The British government accorded the Maharajah of Travancore a high 19 gun salute outside Travancore, whereas locally and for all temple festivals, the highest salute of 21 guns were fired. Swathi Thirunal was one of the most popular rulers of the 19th century. He made contributions both in the field of administration as well as music. During the reign of Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma reforms like the Temple Entry Proclamation were brought about. He was referred to as the Father of Travancore industrialization by A. Sreedhara Menon. V. P. Menon in his book stated that, under Chithira Thirunal's reign, Travancore had become the second most prosperous Princely State in the British Empire.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, insignia and star of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire.
