Marthanda Varma
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Marthanda Varma (Anizham Thirunal),Malayalam, (1706-1758) was the Maharajah of the Indian princely state of Travancore from 1729 till his death in 1758, having succeeded his maternal uncle Rajah Rama Varma. He is credited as the "maker of modern Travancore".
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[edit] Early life
Marthanda Varma was born in 1706 as the son of the Junior Rani of Attingal (the queens of Travancore were styled as the Ranis of Attingal) whose entire family, including herself, a sister who died, and two brothers including the said Rajah Rama Varma had been adopted by Rani Umayamma of Venad on the failure of heirs in the Venad Royal house. Travancore at this time was known as Venad and was a very small principality extending from Attingal in the north till Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian Subcontinent. Within this small kingdom the power of the king was only nominal due to the power of the nobles known as Madampis, chief among them being the Ettuveetil Pillamar or the Lords of the Eight Houses. The powers of the ruler were also to a great extent curbed by the power of the Ettara Yogam, the managing committee of the great Pagoda of Padmanabhaswamy in Trivandrum. The Ettuveetil Pillamar and Ettara Yogam play an important role in the history of Travancore and were responsible, as per legend, for the murder of Rajah Aditya Varma in the previous century, the murder of five sons of Rani Umayamma and other similar crimes, all committed in a bid to extirpate the Travancore Royal House. It was into these conditions, where the sovereign was powerless under the refractory nobles of the state that Marthanda Varma was born in 1706.
[edit] Coming to Power
Marthanda Varma, from his formative years was an intelligent prince and it was on his advice in 1726 that Rajah Rama Varma signed a treaty with the Madurai Nayaks and secured a foreign force in the country to check the activities of the Ettuveetil Pillamar and other rebellious chieftains. Previously he had also signed a treaty with the English, styling himself as the "Prince of Neyatinkara" in 1723. This incurred the wrath of the Eight Lords and thus they bent upon murdering the prince. The result was that Marthanda Varma had to flee the capital for the safety of the northern states such as Kottarakara, Kayamkulam etc where he lived in difficulty for many years, travelling from one place to another to escape his enemies.
In 1729 the reigning Rajah Rama Varma died and Marthanda Varma was coronated as the King of Venad as per the Marumakkathayam law of matrilineal inheritance. At this point the ranks of the Ettuveetil Pillamar was joined by the Kunju Thampimar, the sons of Rajah Rama Varma who wished to claim their father's throne from their cousin. The Kunju Thampimar namely Padmanabhan and Raman Thampi, at the instigation of the Ettuveetil Pillamar visited the Madurai government and convinced them to support them against Marthanda Varma. However the force sent by the Nayaks of Madurai was prevented from dispossessing Marthanda Varma of the throne by bribing its commander Azhagappa Mudaliar. Thus the plans of the Kunju Thampimar failed. However this did not hinder the Ettuveetil Pillamar who now conspired to murder Marthanda Varma on the day of the Arrat festival of Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum. However their plans did not work as the King received intelligence of the same previously from his spies.
In 1730 while he was at Nagercoil Palace the Kunju Thampimar visited Marthanda Varma. Being the sons of the previous king, they had the privilege of calling on their father's successor without the formality of a previous announcement. They were prohibited from meeting the King and when they attempted to enter by force, Padmanabhan Thampi was killed by a guard while Raman Thampi was killed by Marthanda Varma himself. According to other sources Marthanda Varma attacked the Kunju Thampimar at their residence in Nagercoil Palace and even killed their sister Ummini Thankachi. Legend also has it that Marthanda Varma was actually in love with Thankachi who committed suicide. Following the killing of his cousins Marthanda Varma arrested the Ettuveetil Pillamar and those members of the Ettara Yogam who conspired against him. Being Brahmins they were saved from death, but were branded and banished. The Pillamar were all executed at Mukhamantapam and their womenfolk sold to the fishermen of the coast. The remaining of the refractory chiefs and Madampis were cut to size and the authority of Marthanda Varma became supreme in Venad.
[edit] Military career
Marthanda Varma was not only a shrewd tactician and king but an able general as well. In his military conquests he was ably assisted by Ramayyan Dalawa, later his Prime Minister. In 1731 Quilon of Kollam, which was ruled by a branch of the Venad family was defeated and the last King was made to sign a document allowing the annexation of his kingdom by Marthanda Varma after his death. Till then Quilon was to be a Venad tributary. Marthanda Varma next turned his attention towards Kayamkulam, another related family, which allying itself with the Quilon family tried to prevent the growth of Venad. In 1734 several battles were fought against Kayamkulam and Quilon without any decisive effect. In the final battle of that year the Rajah of Kayamkulam was killed and succeeded by his brother who soon sued for peace and hostilites were ended for the moment. Marthanda Varma then, in 1734, annexed the Elayadath Swaroopam or the Kottarakara kingdom, ruled by another related Queen who was pensioned off. In the same year the Quilon Rajah died and Kayamkulam annexed the possessions of that king against the wishes of Marthanda Varma. The Kayamkulam Rajah had the support of the Rajah of Cochin and Dutch. The Dutch Governor asked the King to stop hostilities against Kayamkulam to which Marthanda Varma remonstrated that he (the Governor) need not interfere in affairs that did not trouble him. In 1739 Van Imhoff, the Dutch governor of Ceylon arrived in Cochin and in 1740 espoused the cause of the Rani of Kottarakara and protested against the annexation of that kingdom by Marthanda Varma. On a subsequent interview with the Maharajah Marthanda Varma, the relations between the Dutch and Travancore became further strained. In 1741 the Dutch reinstated the Queen of Elayadath Swaroopam at Kottarakara against the wishes of Marthanda Varma who attacked the kingdom and completely routed the Dutch army and finally fully annexed Kottarakara of Travancore while the Queen fled to Cochin and received a pension from the Dutch. Following this occurred the Battle of Colachel, a decisive battle resulting in the complete eclipse of the Dutch power in Kerala. Following the expulsion of the Dutch, the Maharajah now turned his attention once again towards Kayamkulam which continued seeking help from the Dutch. In 1742 the Travancore forces attacked the Kayamkulam possessions at Quilon and fought the Kayamkulam army led by its commander Achuta Warrier. In this battle Travancore was defeated. But reinforced with forces of the English Marthanda Varma mounted an attack on Kayamkulam and finally defeated the kingdom. A treaty known as the Treaty of Mannar was signed by which Kayamkulam became a tributary. However by 1746 the Kayamkulam Rajah once again started showing signs of rebellion and when the intelligence of his conspiracy with the kingdoms further north such as Kottayam, Changanassery, Cochin and Ambalapuzha came to the knowledge of Marthanda Varma, Kayamkulam was annexed by a final war in which the Rajah fled to the Kingdom of Cochin. Travancore now extended from Cape Comorin to Kayamkulam in the north. Following this Ambalapuzha, Kottayam and Changanassery were also annexed to Travancore by 1753. The principality of Meenachil was also annexed. In 1753 the tributary states of Cochin collectively known as Karappuram were ceded to Travancore. In 1755 the Zamorin of Calicut, the most powerful king in Northern Kerala was also defeated and forced to sign a treaty of friendship with Travancore, causing all the Kings of Kerala to prostrate before the power of Marthanda Varma.
[edit] Other Reforms
The military commander of the Travancore forces was Eustachius De Lannoy, a prisoner of war from the Battle of Colachel. He modernised the Travancore forces and made it superior to those of the other Kings of Kerala, playing thus a major part in the military acquisitions of Marthanda Varma. Besides these, under Ramayyan Dalawa reforms were brought about in the revenue system, budgetary system of the state, public works etc. The Padmanabhaswamy temple was renovated and new state ceremonies such Murajapam, Bhadra Deepam etc were introduced by Marthanda Varma. Marthanda Varma also instituted a new knighthood for his loyal Nair officers known as Chempakaraman Pillai. The Kingdom of Travancore was dedicated to the God Padmanabhaswamy and the Maharajah, taking the title of Padmanabha Dasa ruled the kingdom as the servant of that deity.
[edit] Demise
The death of Ramayyan Dalawa in 1756 caused great pain to Marthanda Varma as the former was not only his minister but also his friend. The King's health started deteriorating since then till he died two years later in 1758 after a brilliant military career. He was succeeded by his nephew Maharajah Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma Dharma Raja in 1758 who consolidated the kingdom further.
[edit] References
- Travancore State Manual by V. Nagam Aiya, Volume I, pages 333 to 368
- Marthanda Varma, a novel by C. V. Raman Pillai
- History of Travancore by Shungunny Menon
- A survey of Kerala history by A. Sreedhara Menon
