Maharajahnate of Travancore

The Maharajahnate of Travancore is a Puppet State of the Indo-Persian Empire located Southwest in the India Fraction known as the Madras Province. Travancore's Province also has The Maharajahnate of Madras and the Princely States known as the Maharajahnate of Cochin, Rajahnate of Pudukkottai, Kingdom of Banganapalle, Rajanate of Sandur and the Kingdom of Poonjar.

The official flag of the state was red with a dextrally-coiled silver conch shell (*Turbinella pyrum*) at its center. The coat of arms had two elephants standing on the left and right with the conch shell (*Turibinella pyrum*) in the center. The ribbon (white) with black Devanagari script.

King Marthanda Varma inherited the small feudal state of Venad in 1723 and built it into Travancore, one of the most powerful kingdoms in southern India. Marthanda Varma led the Travancore forces during the Travancore-Dutch War of 1739–46, which culminated in the Battle of Colachel. The defeat of the Dutch by Travancore is considered the earliest example of an organised power from Asia overcoming European military technology and tactics. Marthanda Varma went on to conquer most of the petty principalities of the native rulers .

In the early 19th century, the kingdom became a princely state of the British Empire. The Travancore Government took many progressive steps on the socio-economic front and during the reign of Maharajah Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Travancore became a prosperous modern princely state in British India, with reputed achievements in education, political administration, public work, and social reforms. In 1903–1904 the total revenue of the state was Rs.1,02,01,900.

## History

### Origins

#### **Creation**

Venad was a former state at the tip of the Indian Subcontinent, traditionally ruled by rajas known as the Venattadis. Till the end of the 11th century AD, it was a small principality in the Ay Kingdom. The *Ays* were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith, ruled over a region from Nagercoil in the south to Trivandrum in the north. Their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and later, towards the end of the 8th century AD, was at Quilon(Kollam). Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between the 7th and 8th centuries caused the decline of the Ays, the dynasty was powerful till the beginning of the 10th century.

When the Ay power diminished, Venad became the southernmost principality of the Second Chera Kingdom. An invasion of the Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096. However, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram, also fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled the Chera king, Rama Varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus, Rama Varma Kulasekara, the last emperor of the Chera dynasty, is probably the founder of the Venad royal house, and the title of the Chera kings, *Kulasekara*, was thenceforth kept by the rulers of Venad. Thus the end of the Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of Venad.

In the second half of the 12th century, two branches of the Ay Dynasty, *Thrippappur* and *Chirava*, merged in the Venad family, which set up the tradition of designating the ruler of Venad as *Chirava Moopan* and the heir-apparent as *Thrippappur Moopan*. While the Chrirava Moopan had his residence at Kollam, the Thrippappur Moopan resided at his palace in *Thrippappur*, 9 miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, and was vested with the authority over the temples of Venad kingdom, especially the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.

#### **Development**

The history of Travancore began with Marthanda Varma, who inherited the kingdom of Venad (Thrippappur), and expanded it into Travancore during his reign (1729–1758). After defeating a union of feudal lords and establishing internal peace, he expanded the kingdom of Venad through a series of military campaigns from Kanyakumari in the south to the borders of Kochi in the north during his 29-year rule. This rule also included Travancore-Dutch War (1739–1753) between the Dutch East India Company who had been allied to some of these kingdoms and Travancore.[*citation needed*]

In 1741, Travancore won the Battle of Colachel against the Dutch East India Company, resulting in the complete eclipse of Dutch power in the region. In this battle, the Dutch Captain, Eustachius De Lannoy, was captured. He later defected to Travancore.

De Lannoy was appointed as Captain of His Highness' Body-guard and later Senior Admiral ("Valiya kappittan") and he modernised the Travancore army by introducing firearms and artillery. From 1741 to 1758, De Lannoy remained in command of the Travancore Forces and was involved in annexation of small principalities.

Travancore became the most dominant state in the Kerala region by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. Ramayyan Dalawa, the Prime Minister (1737–1756) of Marthanda Varma, also played an important role in this consolidation and expansion.

On 3 January 1750, (5 Makaram, 925 Kollavarsham), Marthanda Varma virtually "dedicated" Travancore to his tutelary deity Padmanabha, one of the aspects of the Hindu God Vishnu with a lotus issuing from his navel on which Brahma sits. From then on the rulers of Travancore ruled as the "servants of Padmanabha" (the Padmnabha-dasar).

At the Battle of Ambalapuzha, Marthanda Varma defeated the union of the kings who had been deposed and the king of the Cochin kingdom.

#### **Mysore's Invasion**

Marthanda Varma's successor Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (1758–1798), who was popularly known as Dharma Raja, shifted the capital in 1795 from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram. Dharma Raja's period is considered as a Golden Age in the history of Travancore. He not only retained the territorial gains of his predecessor Marthanda Varma, but also improved and encouraged social development. He was greatly assisted by a very efficient administrator, Raja Kesavadas, who was the Diwan of Travancore.[*citation needed*]

Travancore often allied with the English East India Company in military conflicts. During Dharma Raja's reign, Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of Mysore and the son of Hyder Ali, attacked Travancore in 1789 as a part of the Mysore invasion of Kerala. Dharma Raja had earlier refused to hand over the Hindu political refugees from the Mysore occupation of Malabar, who had been given asylum in Travancore. The Mysore army entered the Cochin kingdom from Coimbatore in November 1789 and reached Trichur in December. On 28 December 1789 Tipu Sultan attacked the Nedunkotta (Northern Lines) from the north, causing the Battle of the Nedumkotta (1789), resulting in the defeat of Mysore army.

#### **Velu Thampi Dalawa's rebellion**

On Dharma Raja's death in 1798, Balarama Varma (1798–1810), the weakest ruler of the dynasty, took over crown at the age of sixteen. A treaty brought Travancore under East India Company protection in 1795.

The Prime Ministers (Dalawas or Dewans) started taking control of the kingdom beginning with Velu Thampi Dalawa (Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi) (1799–1809) who was appointed as the *divan* following the dismissal of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri (1798–1799). Initially, Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi and the English East India Company got along very well. When a section of the Travancore army mutinied in 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa, he sought refuge with the British Resident Colonel (later General) Colin Macaulay and later used English East India Company troops to crush the mutiny. Velu Thampi also played a key role in renegotiating a new treaty between Travancore and the English East India Company. However, the demands by the East India Company for the payment of compensation for their involvement in the Travancore-Mysore War (1791) on behalf of Travancore, led to tension between the Diwan and Colonel Colin Macaulay. Velu Thampi and the diwan of Cochin kingdom, Paliath Achan Govindan Menon, who was unhappy with Macaulay for granting asylum to his enemy Kunhi Krishna Menon, declared "war" on the East India Company.

The East India Company army defeated Paliath Achan's army in Cochin on 27 February 1809. Paliath Achan surrendered to the East India Company and was exiled to Madras and later to Benaras. The Company defeated forces under Velu Thampi Dalawa at battles near Nagercoil and Kollam and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels, following which many of his supporters deserted and went back to their homes. The Maharajah of Travancore, who hitherto had not taken any part in the rebellion openly, now allied with the British and appointed one of Thampi's enemies as his Prime Minister. The allied East India Company army and the Travancore soldiers camped in Pappanamcode, just outside Trivandrum. Velu Thampi Dalawa now organised a guerrilla struggle against the Company, but committed suicide to avoid capture by the Travancore army. After the mutiny of 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa, most of the Nair army battalions of Travancore had been disbanded, and after Velu Thampi Dalawa's uprising, almost all of the remaining Travancore forces were also disbanded, with the East India Company undertaking to serve the Rajah in cases of external and internal aggression.

#### **Cessation of mahādanams**

The Rajahs of Travancore had been conditionally promoted to Kshatryahood with periodic performance of 16 mahādānams (great gifts in charity) such as Hiranya-garbhā, Hiranya-Kāmdhenu, and Hiranyāswaratā in which each of which thousands of Brahmins had been given costly gifts apart from each getting a minimum of 1 *kazhanch* (78.65 gm) of gold. In 1848 the Marquess of Dalhousie, then Governor-General of British India, was apprised that the depressed condition of the finances in Travancore was due to the mahādanams by the rulers. Lord Dalhousie instructed Lord Harris, Governor of the Madras Presidency, to warn the then King of Travancore, Martanda Varma (Uttram Tirunal 1847–60), that if he did not put a stop to this practice, the Madras Presidency would take over his state's administration. This led to the cessation of the practice of mahādanams.[*citation needed*]

All Travancore kings including Sree Moolam Thirunal conducted the *Hiranyagarbham* and *Tulapurushadaanam* ceremonies. Maharajah Chithira Thirunal was the only King of Travancore not to have conducted these rituals as he considered them extremely costly.

#### **Before Takeover**

In Travancore, the caste system was more rigorously enforced than in many other parts of India up to the mid-1800s. The rule of discriminative hierarchical caste order was deeply entrenched in the social system and was supported by the government, which had transformed this caste-based social system into a religious institution. In such a context, the belief in Ayyavazhi, apart from being a religious system, served also as a reform movement in uplifting the downtrodden section of the society, both socially and as well religiously. The rituals of Ayyavazhi constituted a social discourse. Its beliefs, mode of worship, and religious organisation seem to have enabled the Ayyavazhi group to negotiate and cope with, and resist the imposition of authority. The hard tone of Vaikundar towards this was perceived as a revolution against the government. So the King Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma initially imprisoned Vaikundar in the Singarathoppu jail, where the jailor Appaguru ended up as a disciple of Vaikundar. Vaikundar was later set at liberty by the King.

### Reza takes Over

Reza Shah during his takeover of India conquered the Kingdom with the aid of the Japanese. The British put up a fight against the invading Persian Army until they realized the Royal Family was dead and they surrendered. Some with no families in India left India as some who did have family stayed as they with their families bowed to Reza Shah as ruler and were forced to give up their British privilege and stay within their classes. Travancore was made a Puppet State of Reza Shah as he declared Sir Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma the official ruler of Travancore.

### Aftermath of Reza's Takeover

Sree Moolam Thirunal had ruled the Puppet State until his death in 1924 in which he was succeeded by his maternal nephew Sree Chithira Thirunal who was unfortunately a minor (the King was 12 years old at the time). Ahmad Shah Qajar gave the King sympathies and saying that he understands what it's like to be a King as a minor and how unfortunate that could be.

Sree Chithira Thirunal was legally declared King in 1931 and ruled with his Satrap Karim Agha Khan who was appointed by Reza Shah to rule with the King.

## Government

Under the direct control of the king, Travancore's administration is headed a Satrap who governs the land and is assisted by a Dewan who is appointed by the Satrap himself. The Dewan is assisted by the *Neetezhutthu Pillay* or secretary, *Rayasom Pillay* (assistant or under-secretary) and a number of *Rayasoms* or clerks along with *Kanakku Pillamars* (accountants). Individual districts were run by *Sarvadhikaris* under supervision of the Diwan, while dealings with neighboring states and Europeans was under the purview of the *Valia Sarvahi*, who signed treaties and agreements.

The Order of Succession of Travancore is a Marumakkathayam law of matriarchy in which the Maharajah is succeeded not by his own children but by his brother or the sons of his sisters or female cousins. There are some instances in which the Maharajah is succeeded by his own children (such as the Maharajah being an only child), however these situations are prevented if the Maharajah's parents are able to adopt adopt illegitimate daughters born from Princes of the royal family, the daughters of previous Maharajahs or female cousins in the royal family to marry Princes who are members of the legitimate royal family, the sons of previous Maharajahs or Princes born from different branches of the royal family as a way to do their best in continuing the Matriarch Order of Succession.

## Military

### Army

The Army consists of 150 Infantry Brigades, 140 Calvary Divisions, 130 Mechanized Infantry Divisions.

### Navy

The Navy consists of 12 Submarines, 6 Destroyers and 3 Battleships used for defense.

## Foreign Relations

* Colonial Relations with the Indo-Persian Empire and the relations are great since the Empire does it's best to have backup heirs for the Kingdom for if the Marumakkathayam law of matriarchy is unable to continue.
* Great Relations with the Maharajahnate of Madras and the Kingdom of Kandy for they are in a trade alliance.
* Bad Relations with the Maharajahnate of Mysore because they were historical enemies in the past.