The Travancore royal family were the rulers of the princely state of Travancore in South Kerala. Established in 1729 this royal line continues strong even today. Amongst all the Travancore royals the name remembered foremost by the citizens of Kerala is that of King Marthanda Varma.
Marthanda Varma transformed Travancore from a small princely state to the most powerful state one the Malabar coast. His military strategy and political sense has helped shape the modern state of Kerala.
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| After India’s independence, Travancore joined the Indian Union and became part of the state of Kerala. Part of Travancore, Kanyakumari and Nagercoil in particular, merged with Tamil Nadu. |
The Beginnings
Marthanda Varma was just 23 years old when he succeeded his uncle Rama Varma in the year 1729. It was a difficult time for the dynasty as the kingdom was close to a civil war and financially bankrupt. The prominent families in the state refused to accept him as the king and threatened to eliminate him.
‘A History of Travancore…’
As the first step in strengthening his position, the king appointed capable people to high position. In particular, a young Brahmin boy Ramayyan was hand picked by the king and appointed as Secretary to the State. This friendship between the king and his secretary was to provide the foundation on which the whole kingdom would be built in the coming years.
Representative Map of Travancore in the 1730’s. Copyright, LetUsDiscoverIndia.com
Development Works
What distinguished Marthanda Varma from any other king of his era (or later) was his focus on taking care of his subjects instead of spending money on himself or his personal pleasure. A small army from the Pandyan king in Trichy was always stationed in Travancore to help safeguard the Travancore kingdom from enemies. In return, Travancore would have to pay money to the Pandyan king for this support. Once Marthanda Varma came to power, he took a bold decision and requested the Pandyan army to return back. The money thus saved could now be used for developmental activities.
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| So how much did Travancore have to pay the Pandian king for protection? An annual sum of 3000 rupees. And the size of the Pandyan army in Travancore? 3000 rupees bought Travancore 1000 horse and 2000 foot soldiers! |
The king personally supervised the improvement in irrigation of the most fertile areas of his kingdom. New anicut was built to help irrigate several miles of land and supply drinking water to the capital city of Padmanabhapuram. Canals and tanks were excavated and water reached more areas of the kingdom than before. Land that used to yield only one crop a year now started yielding two crops and the state’s revenue increased. Roads, markets and thoroughfares were opened to facilitate trade.
Consolidation of power
But trouble was brewing within the feudal chieftains called the ‘Ettu veetil pillamar’ who decided that they wanted to replace the king.
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| The term ‘Ettu Veetil Pillamar’ literally means the nobles from eight families. The Malayalam word ‘Ettu’ means eight, ‘Veetil’ means ‘house or family’ and ‘Pillamar’ refers to nobles. They were so called because they came from the eight most prominent Nair houses in the kingdom. |
The Eight Nobles
The eight noble family of Travancore had been wielding extraordinary power for a long time. These families got their influence from their control over the Padmanabhaswamy temple. This temple and the presiding deity there was the spiritual capital of the kingdom. Things had got so bad that the king had to get the permission of these nobles before constructing his own palace. They were ruthless and never took the interests of the state into consideration.
Marthanda Varma changed this once and for all. What followed was a story of high intrigue worthy of a spy thriller!
Murder at the Festival
The leading light of the noble families held secret meetings to decide their course of action. With the Pandyan army having gone back and the king focused on development work, things seemed to be working in their favor. A plan was stuck.
In a few weeks, the king was to lead a procession from the Padmanabhaswamy temple to the sea shore. He would be on foot, preceding the idols. The plan was simple but deadly. The nobles and their private soldiers would join the procession on the pretext of praying to the deity. In the evening when the tired king would be resting, a group of men would barge in to his tent and assassinate him. Anyone resisting would be finished off by the soldiers loyal to the nobles. This plan, with all its details was written down and attached to the shoe soles of messengers and messages were sent out to necessary people.
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| This procession, called Arattu in Malayalam, is conducted at the Padmanabhaswamy temple to this day. The king along with his kinsmen come out of the temple at the head of a royal procession, with swords drawn. |
Friendly spy
Now Marthanda Varma was not a great king if not for his ability to anticipate trouble. The king had spies everywhere. A tired old man, one of the servants of the nobles, was in the room where this discussion happened. But he was not what he appeared to be, he was the king’s spy. News about the plan reached the king in no time. His ever reliable secretary, Ramayyan, immediately swung into action and apprehended few of the messengers and the details of the plot was confirmed.
Possessing an indomitable and fearless disposition he was not alarmed at the conspiracy, which he was determined to trace to its origin
A history of Travancore from the Earliest Times, Shungoonny Menon
The king attached utmost importance for not disturbing the tradition and wanted the procession to complete without issues. He was not yet ready to strike his enemies. A large contingent of troops loyal to the king were called back to the capital to participate in the procession. On the day of the procession, an extraordinarily huge contingent of armed men were ahead and behind the king at all times. On seeing these changes, the nobles stepped back and dared not attack the king.
With the procession out of the way, the king summoned Ramayyan and asked him to send a secret message to the military leaders of the state. They were to wait for a secret signal from the king. Once they received this signal they could initiate military action against the nobles.
End of the nobles
Events unfolded quickly thereafter. One of the noblemen reached the palace in Nagercoil where Marthanda Varma was residing at that time. He wanted to meet the king, but the soldiers guarding the king were instructed not to let the nobles reach the king. A quarrel started between the nobleman and the guards and very soon a sword fight ensued.
One of the nobles, Ramen Thamby, ran into the kings chamber and tried to attack the king with his sword. Luckily, the top of the sword hit the roof and missed the king. Immediately the king, who was waiting for a direct attack on his personal self to initiate action, jumped upon the intruder, took his favorite dagger and ‘plunged it to the hilt into the traitor’s heart’.
With blood smeared on his clothes, the king opened the window and gave the secret signal to his soldiers outside. By the next day morning all the erring nobles across the princely state of Travancore were rounded up and brought in front of the king. They were tried for treason and sentenced to be hanged. Once the punishment was executed, their entire land was taken over by the government. All property owned by the nobles were destroyed and the materials from that property was used for constructing government buildings and religious structures.
Marthanda Varma was now the undisputed king of Travancore. Peace prevailed and there would never be any attempt, within the state, to threaten the royal families rule.
Foreign Powers
Before we continue with our story, let us take stock of the foreign powers around Travancore. Three foreign powers were active in the region at that time – the French, the Dutch and the British.
The French Connection
The French were entrenched in and around Pondicherry. They had a love-hate relationship with the British and usually the frequent quarrels between the two nations in Europe would spill over to India. Even though well armed, the French settlement in India was small.
The Dutch Traders
Dutch interests in India were centered around Cochin. The Dutch owned and ran the largest trading corporation ever known to mankind – the VOC. VOC had extensive interests in spices and Cochin was their gateway to India for pepper and cardamom. The Dutch military presence was centered around their trading ports and their main military base was in Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). From here the Dutch controlled the entire East Asian trade. Malaysia, Java, Sumatra and Japan were under their influence or control. VOC would gradually try to become a stronger political force in India, but those dreams and the dreams of Dutch world supremacy were to be soon dashed by a young Travancore king.
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| VOC stands for “Vereenigde Nederlandsche Oost Indische Compagnie” or the United Dutch East India Company. Established on 20 March 1602, it united many competing Dutch companies. What was VOC started for? For trading with Mughal India! Trade took VOC to different parts of East Asia and at some point they controlled Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mauritius, Taiwan and Japan. https://www.colonialvoyage.com/australia-dutch-east-india-company-voc/ |
The British Strategists
All of us know enough of the British East India Company (EIC), its original goals and how they and the British government came to take over control over India. At the time of Marthanda Varma, the British had presence in a place called ‘Anjengo’ close to present day Thiruvananthapuram. Here they had their trading offices and had military presence.
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| Anjengo is the anglicized version of the Malayalam ‘Anchuthengu’. If both are tongue twisters for you, ‘Anchuthengu’ means 5 coconut trees (Anchu = 5, thengu = coconut tree). |
Indian Neighbors
With the foreign powers focused primarily on their spice trade, at least for now, it was the Indian powers nearby that caused more headache for Marthanda Varma.
The Nawabs of Arcot
Immediately to the West of Travancore was the ‘Carnatic’ ruled by the Nawabs of Arcot. They were appointed to their post by the Mughals and controlled the Coromandel coast. They were close to the British who were based out of Madras.
Raja of Cochin
North of Travancore, were a few small princely states such as Quilon and Kayamkulam. They were always worried about Travancore’s rising power and were close to the Raja of Cochin. Cochin with its harbor and trading ports was a rich kingdom and it had an arrangement with the VOC for military assistance.
Samoothiri of Calicut
Travel further North and you reach the domains of the Samoothiri, or the Zamorins of Calicut. The Zamorins had a much larger territory than the Travancore and Cochin kings and a superior military force. They had connections with the Portuguese (remember Vasco da Gama) as well as the Arab traders. They too were unhappy with the rise of Travancore and also had no love lost for the Cochin king. The princely state of Cochin was trapped between a powerful Zamorin on one side and a rising Travancore on the other.
The die was cast – battle royale was about to start in the far south of India that would forever change the fortune of the country.
Northward Expansion
With the nobles destroyed, Marthanda Varma knew that the time was ripe for pushing the boundary of the state northwards. Lying immediately north of Travancore were the princely states of Quilon and Kayamkulam and they faced the brunt of the Travancore army.
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| Quilon is the current Kollam district of Kerala. Kollam is famous for Cashew processing and is the world leader in the Cashew industry. |
Ramayyan was appointed military commander and with arms and armaments purchased from the British at Anjengo, the Travancore forces defeated the Quilon troops. The Quilon king was forced to move to Travancore, but the Kayamkulam king fought hard and bought some time. He reached out to the Raja of Cochin and through him the Dutch and asked for their support.
Dutch Intervention
The Dutch governor at Cochin, Matten, wrote a letter to Marthanda Varma asking him to stay away from Kayamkulam. The king’s response:
His Excellency need not trouble himself with questions which do not concern the commercial speculations and interests of the Dutch East India Company”
A history of Travancore from the Earliest Times, Shungoonny Menon
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| While the Kayamkulam battle was going on and the Dutch were getting drawn into it, the British EIC were doing what they were very good at – adding to the trouble. The EIC reached out to the king proposing an alliance and promising all support. Marthanda Varma refused it mentioning that he, acting alone, was capable of achieving victory against his enemies. You need to keep in mind that Travancore was still a small princely state, the Dutch were powerful and the kings response to the British goes to show the immense confidence Marthanda Varma had in his troops and their capabilities. |
In other words, Marthanda Varma told the Dutch to go mind their business! Matten was enraged at this letter and raised the matter with his boss, Van Imhoff, the Dutch governor of Ceylon. Van Imhoff was visiting Cochin at that time realized that Travancore had to be put down by force. He thought Travancore was getting unduly influenced by the British and send a messenger to the king.
And to think that this exchange is never a part of our history textbooks
Invading Europe
The content of the letter was requesting Travancore to withdraw its forces and if failed to do so face Dutch invasion. Marthanda Varma’s response was brilliant:
The Maharaja calmly replied that he (Van Imhoff) was perfectly at liberty to do so, and reminded him of the unlikelihood of such an undertaking being crowned with success.”
A history of Travancore from the Earliest Times, Shungoonny Menon
The king closed the discussion with the retort that if the Dutch were to invade his kingdom, he would also think of invading Europe with his native boats and fishermen! And to think that this exchange is never a part of our history textbooks!!
But was the king just being optimistic or did he have the capability to defeat the Dutch? The sleepy little village of Colachel would put this question to rest once and for all.
In Part 2 of this series we will see how the battle unfolded and the imprint it left on Indian and world history.
Further Reading & Viewing
The best source to read and understand about Marthanda Varma and Travancore is Shungoonny Menon’s, ‘A History of Travancore From the Earliest Times’. Published in 1878, Rare Books Society of India has the free copy here. Marthanda Varma’s period is covered in Chapter II.
Read an interesting blog on Ramayyan here, gives some aspects about the ministers devotion to the king and his contribution to the rise of Marthanda Varma.
I personally got hooked about the history of the Travancore royal family by C V Raman Pillai’s novels about the royal family and its fight with the eight noble Nair families. ‘Marthanda Varma’ published in 1891 is a fictional account of the period.
Asia’s largest wooden palace, the Padmanabhapuram Palace:
A lot of information here.. most of the narrations are nothing short of what we see in movies…
Ha, ha, I agree. The palace intrigues of those days mirror what we see in spy movies of today!