The Munro years – Travancore
Posted by Labels: British Travancore 1800-1850, Jayantan Namboodiri, Kerala varma, Munro, Ummini, Ummini Tampi
The stories of Kerala Varma and Ummini Thampi
The events which clouded the placid skyline of 19th
century Travancore actually started during the reign of Avittam Tirunal
Balarama Varma. It was in 1798 that the 14 year old Balarama Varma succeeded
Dharma Raja. A weak ruler, Balarama Varma, so they say, was manipulated by
ministers and associates such as the Machiavellian Jayantan Sankaran Namboodiri
and his cohorts Sankara Narayana Chetti and Mathu Tharakan. The situation is
explained in differing ways by various historians, with one group uplifting the
glorious services of Keshava Das and the treachery of the other ministers,
while the other group maintain that Balarama Varma was actually anti British
from the beginning and did not really want to sign any subsidiary treaties with
the English. According to the latter, the king had no choice but to finally send
away the British friendly Keshava Das into retirement, who then unfortunately
ended up dead, perhaps poisoned. Then, for a while, Jayantan Namboodiri took
over as Dewan and wreaked havoc on the hapless citizens of Travancore, with his
cohorts Tharakan and Chetti.
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| Balarama Varma (Perhaps the person right behind him is Kerala Varma) |
Following the Mysore Sultan’s assaults, the original
Travancore British treaty was signed in 1795, wherein Travancore was to pay the
EIC for military support, to put it all simply. Balarama Varma, the reigning
Raja then had to sign the subsidiary treaty in 1805, albeit reluctantly. S
Ramanth Iyer explains the grandiose British scheme under the treaty thus - This treaty confirmed the sincere and
cordial relations of peace and amity between the Raja and the East India
Company. It is known as the Treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance between
them. By this treaty the Rajah was required to pay for a native regiment in
addition to the subsidy fixed in 1795 (in all 8 lacs of Rs. a year) and further
to share the expenses of his large forces when necessary; to pay at all times
the utmost attention to the advice of the British Government; to hold no
communication with any foreign state; and to admit no European foreigners into
his service or to allow him to remain in his territory without the sanction of
the British Government.
The King defaulted on the payments twice and the resident
Col Macaulay protested. It was at this
juncture that Dewan Veluthampi entered the scene and we studied that epoch earlier. Soon another character appeared, a noble named Ummini Thampi (Thampi
Iravi), the son of the previous king Dharma Raja, who rose to prominence by
helping the British in the chase to capture VeluThampi and his family.
A few words on this interesting person would help illuminate
his life. He first crossed swords with Veluthampi when he entered the arena and
as Veluthampi became the powerful Dewan, was imprisoned. He reappeared when
Veluthampi’s relations with the EIC started to get strained. As Veluthampi was
being pursued by the British, Ummini offered assistance voluntarily and secured
the former’s corpse and hunted down and butchered all of Velu Thampi’s
relatives, for the British. Macaulay rewarded him by declaring him to be the
next Dewan of Travancore. The British were pleased and Col Macaulay appointed
Ummini Thampi as the new Dewan. So as they say, by 1809, relative normalcy descended
on Travancore after 4 years of strife, but it was not to last long.
But the new Dewan was simply not acceptable to Balarama Varma
Raja. The reparations and dues to the EIC had risen to close to 10 lakhs by now
though Ummini Thampi assured the British that the arrears would be paid, even
if he had to curtail the king’s expenses. As you can imagine, all this
irritated Balarama Varma so much so that Varma tried to remove Ummini, but the
British stood squarely behind Ummini Thampi.
The next intrigue which took place was the hatching of the
plan to take Ummini Thampi’s life, by the Rajas coterie as he passed
Kazhakootam to attend a concert at Quilon. If that attempt failed, he was to be
taken out or killed at the next opportune instance. The news of this threat
spread around and was an open secret, terrifying the British friendly Dewan and
forcing him to seek protection from the British. Nevertheless the harassment of
the Dewan and his family continued.
Ummini Thampi then conspired with the British so that
Macaulay could make a proposal to take over Travancore to liquidate their
debts. The Governor General at Madras did not agree and the exasperated
Macaulay retired from public life, soon after. Ummini Thampi focused all the blame,
not only his but also those of the British on the king and the heir apparent
Kerala Varma.
A few words of introduction of the heir apparent (Kerala
Varma) is required, before his grand entry into this sordid state of affairs,
for it was believed that the threats to Ummini Thampi actually came from this
individual and his supporters. The heir apparent was formally known as the
Elaya (Junior) Raja. It is also recorded that Kerala Varma was prepared to shoot
Ummini Thampi himself, if an opportunity presented itself. The Elaya Raja was
adopted by the childless Balarama Varma when he was 7 years old from the
Mavelikkara kovilakom, in 1798. Looking at his year of birth, it is difficult
to believe a 17 year old to be behind armed threats on the life of an aged
Dewan, himself a product of Royal lineage. But it is clear that he was a hot
headed boy and supportive of his adopted father, as well as Velu Thampi. He was
also supported by the 8.5 yogam, the all-powerful ‘behind the scenes’ group in
Travancore and was considered the formal heir apparent to the King Balarama
Varma, serving in that position for a decade.
The next resident to take charge in Cochin was the fervent
evangelical Col John Munro who had
The next event to shock the public was the death of the Balarama
Varma Raja, who after visiting Munro three times, fell sick. It is mentioned
that Munro saw to it that the Raja’s personal physician was replaced by one of
Munro’s choice and very soon, the king passed away, rumored to be poisoned to
death. In fact even before Munro, Macaulay had gone on record upon the eve of
his departure, to state that the young Elaya Raja should be banished to Mavelikkara
or Aleppey so that he could be placed under the watchful eye of the new Dewan
(Note that the dewans were stationed at Aleppey, whereas the king was located
at his palace in Trivandrum) lest he be upto mischief against the British.
Macaulay had previously tried to find ways of discrediting
the coronation or accession of the adopted Elaya Raja by questioning the laws
of succession. Dewan Ummini Thampi weighed in by opining that Kerala Varma was
the illegitimate son of the previously shamed Jayantan Sankaran Nambuthiri, if
only to discredit the boy’s lineage. As matters traversed a normal course and
the Elaya Raja took over as the king in Nov 1810, Ummini Thampi the Dewan amped
up his tirade against the new regent, stating him to be ungovernable, ferocious
and decidedly hostile to the English.
Munro just a month old in Travancore, sought the advice of
TH Baber, the EIC judge and magistrate in Malabar about the inheritance aspect
in question. Baber replied that the rule of descent in Malabar was not from
father to son but through the sister's son. In case of failure of having male
issues, it was usual to adopt a princess from some other family and the male
child born of this adoption enjoyed the right to succeed to the throne.
Using this advice and precedence in Travancore, Munro argued
that the Elaya Raja was a son (though adopted) and hence not meant to succeed
the deceased Balarama Varma. To confound matters, the king had also adopted two
princesses Bharani Tirunal and Attam Tirunal from the Kolattunad family in
1789. Bharani Tirunal later gave birth to two daughters. Ayilyam Tirunal Gowri
Lakshmi Bai and Uttratathi Tirunal Gowri Parvati Bai in 1791 and 1810,
respectively. According to TH Baber’s advice and Munro’s interpretation, the
male offspring from either Gowri Lakshmi Bai or Gowri Parvathi Bai could ascend
to the throne, not the Elaya Raja. So until they bore children, Munro decided,
one of the girls should rule Travancore. The mantle therefore rested on the
elder of the two, Gowri Lakshmi Bai.
An analysis of these individuals and their relations would
make your head spin, for Kerala Varma was incidentally the son of the eldest
sister of the two adopted princesses. The established practice nowadays in that
family is that the rights of succession pass on to the younger brother of the
king, then to the nephew of the senior most sister, then maternal first cousins
from his eldest aunt. To be noted is that the sons of a Maharaja or of those in
the line of succession cannot succeed to the throne, nor, if those children
bear sons, can those sons be in the line of succession. If all of these fail,
as it occurred in 1798, daughters from another matriline could be adopted to
continue the succession.
Kerala Varma tried to persuade Lakshmi Bayi his cousin to submit
a letter stating that she had no objection to his becoming the regent, but it
appears she moved against him and provided instead reasons against the idea in
writing, to Munro. This naturally enraged the Elaya raja. Ummani Thampi added
fuel to the fire by declaring – The young
prince now standing next in line of succession to the musund of Travancore has
no right or title by birth or by usage to that station and ought to be excluded
and that the boy at Attengah whose mother was and whose sister now is
Thumbratee of Attengah is the legitimate heir to the Musnud.
Apart from the report of Baber, Munro also obtained opinions
of the key religious pundits and senior state functionaries in Travancore. They
however insisted that Kerala Varma was duly adopted into the royal family by
Balarama Varma and was the rightful heir. Munro it appears threatened all these
parties stating that if an amicable solution was not forthcoming, the Company
would take over control over Travancore, and cancel the special emoluments and
perquisites enjoyed by the Brahmins under the Raja’s Government. Fearing the
worst, the pundits and other dignitaries changed their opinion and supported
the succession of Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bai. I should add here that there is more
to the story, and this involves much intrigue between Kerala Varma’s mother and
the two daughters Lakshmi and Parvathy Bayi.
This was the main reason behind the machinations which took place and affected
the young Kerala Varma, but going into that is like reopening a saga.
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| Gowri Lakshmi Bayi |
Anyway Kerala Varma was finally forced to abdicate and the 20
year old Lakshmi Bai was named regent by Munro. Here again Ummini Thampi had a
role to play for it appears that he had some power over the young Rani, perhaps
a relationship of sorts which went sour. Let us get back to the Rani later, and
follow the travails of Ummini Thampi and Kerala Varma for now.
Varma continued on in Trivandrum for a while with the new Rani’s
permission but was found to be plotting and scheming against her, so much so
that he was first placed under surveillance and later declared a state prisoner
and marked for transportation (exile or banishment). Eventually Kerala Varma
was escorted by four native companies to Tellicherry and placed under the care
of TH Baber, the magistrate there. I am not exactly sure if he stayed in
confinement for too long a period with Baber, but we do know that TH Baber
found him a good man, not the usurper Munro and Ummini Thampi had made him to
look.
In the 1832 reply to Macaulay’s desultory notes it is
recorded thus- That honourable and
upright man Mr. Baber, under whose charge the Elliah Rajah was placed for
upwards of two years, informed the Committee, “that the majority of the Country
of Travancore “was decidedly in his favour; and that the Elliah “Rajah was so
amiable a man, that he had gained “ the affections of all with whom he
associated.”
Col James Welsh who visited Tellichery and TH Baber on the
20th December 1812, and a jail that Thomas ran at Kudroor, states - About four miles inland from Tellicherry, on
a very fertile plain, lies the fortified factory of Kudroor, with a fine stone
tank outside, and a smaller one within the area. It is nearly square, and raised many feet
above the level of the surrounding country, forming an airy and comfortable upstairs
house, with cannon-proof walls, and large square windows; the shutters of
which, two inches thick, are fixed at the bottom inside, by projecting pivots,
let into the wall; and opening with strong folding legs, fixed underneath, form
each a very capital table. The ground
floor of this extensive building, is used in lieu of outhouses, for cook-room,
stores, etc. Here we found the ex-heir,
or Yelleh Rajah of the Travancore country, raised to the throne one day, and
deposed the next. His case was one of
particular interest; but being sent up to Malabar, to be under Mr. Baber’s
surveillance, he found a kind friend in his supposed gaoler. Above the common
size, and inclining to fatness, this young man appeared as mild and sensible,
as he was firm and uncomplaining, under a reverse as severe as it was
unmerited. We passed a very pleasant day
in his company; searched the neighbouring thickets for game without success,
and then returned to Cannanore, sixteen miles distant.
I am not exactly sure about the dates here, but we do know
that Lakshmi Bai took over in 1811. So if Welsh met Kerala Varma in Dec 1812, Varma
must have spent all of 1811 in Travancore scheming against the new Rani before
being sent to Tellicherry under the care of TH Baber. TH Baber was incidentally
awarded and collected the bounty of Rs 100,000 for the arrest of the Elaya raja.
During the stay another vexing matter came up with respect
to the royal jewels that Balarama Varma had bequeathed to Kerala Varma in his
dying years. It appears that Kerala Varma had requested permission from the new
Rani about taking these jewels along with him when he was banished to Tellicherry.
The new queen gave him the required permission without hesitation, perhaps
happy to be rid of her troublesome cousin. But soon after he had gone, Munro
decided to harass the banished king and asked the Rani to demand that he return
the jewels. Baber was also asked to intervene, but he replied that he did not
feel the Raj would part with the jewels.
Meanwhile, Munro was declared as the new dewan of Travancore
in 1813 and it became clear that Munro knew all along that the raja had
departed with the jewels (about 14 lakhs worth) but made it a formal issue only
after he had become the Dewan. After this, Munro conspired to declare this an
embezzlement and had the Rani also demand the return of the jewels to the care
of Sri Padmanabhan, who she said after changing her stance, was the rightful
owner. When confronted with evidence that she had sanctioned the removal in the
first place, she finally agreed that Varma could use the jewels as long as he
lived, but that they were to be returned to Travancore, after his demise.
It was early in 1813 that the Elaya raja was moved to spend
his confinement in Chingleput, i.e. the area within the Fort St George, where
he spent close to 11 years. Kerala Varma struggled on with his life, under
constant supervision by Munro’s spies in Madras. All his remaining years he
wrote repeatedly to the British authorities to reconsider his case, but they
ignored him. Nevertheless he did not live an empty life, or so it seems. He got
involved with a devadasi dancer named Kanakavalli and ended up gifting all the
Travancore jewels to her. Munro coming to know of this had Kanakavalli harassed
and arrested and then he seized all of her property. Finally some of her things
were returned to her and the Travancore jewels sent back to Travancore with TH
Baber’s help. Varma had by then become terribly sick (suspiciously similar
terminal symptoms when compared to Balarama Varma) during his last days, was eventually
moved to Tellicherry where he breathed his last in 1824.
Ummini Thampi the mastermind of all this did not fare any
better. He fell afoul of the Rani who complained about him to Munro (before Munro’s
becoming Dewan) and his wanton ways, amplifying accusations of Ummini emptying
the treasury for his own good. Initially he was confined to Quilon but here he
was soon involved in the so called ‘Quilon revolt’ which I will write about
later. Ummini Thampi was implicated and finally sentenced to death in 1812, by
the British. The Madras government (the Rani also consented eventually) commuted
it and banished Thampi to the Nellore in 1813. Thampi then requested that his
paramour, a dancer named Ummaiammah be sent with him to Nellore, but the Rani
refused permission stating that such things set a bad precedent.
Anyway he
spent the next 8-9 years in misery and ended his life in isolation, at Nellore.
It is not
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| Gowri Parvathi Bayi |
We will get to the full story of the Rani’s of Travancore
another day, but let me provide some detail for closure here. The scheming which
took place between the mother Chathayam Thirunal Mahaprabha Amma Thampuran and
daughters of the Attingal palace, their wards on so on present a story which
even soap operas on TV these days, cannot rival. Much of it has never been retold
in any of the books we have today. Per the history books, Lakshmi Bai submitted
herself to the guiding hands of Col Munro and it is recorded that the golden
years of Travancore had finally started during her reign from 1810 onwards. The
British became the sovereigns of Travancore, and Col Munro was considered by
her as a brother. Soon after, she gave birth to the esteemed Swati Tirunal Raja.
But the governess of Travancore as she was popularly known, passed away in 1814
and her sister Rani Parvathy Bai was appointed regent until Swati Tirunal came
of age in 1829.
Munro returned to Britain, but not before having an island
in Quilon named after him. Before he left, he made sure that the Dewans of
Travancore were always non Travancoreans and had a reformed westernized
outlook. As VJ Varghese explains “Consequently, the office of Dewan soon became
“a gift of the Resident” and as the turn of subsequent events testified, the
primary allegiance of the Dewan was to the British. As a consequence, the
system was reordered in such a way that in all matters of importance “the
Resident ruled, the Dewan executed and the Raja sanctioned,” though in theory,
the division of authority was, roughly speaking was, Raja to rule, the Dewan to
execute and the Resident to advise.
Strange are the ways of people when power and wealth beckon.
Familial ties, obligations, solidarity and the welfare of people around quickly
become secondary issues. Those mad scrambles and machinations of such
individuals eventually become stories which people like us enjoy retelling.
They were so fated, I guess.
References
A tragic decade in Kerala History – TP Sankarankutty Nair
At the Turn of the Tide: The Life and Times of Maharani Setu
Lakshmi Bayi - Lakshmi Raghunandan
A decade of crisis in Travancore – Dr B Sobhanan
Ummini Thampi – The dewan of Travancore – TK Vijayamohan,
JOKS Vol 5, 1978
Kerala Varma A forgotten patriot of Kerala – B Sobhanam
Proceedings Vol 2, 1981
Land, labor and migrations: understanding Kerala’s economic
modernity - V.J. Varghese
King Balarama Varma of Travancore – AP Ibrahim Kunju – Proceedings
Vol 38, 1977
12 comments:
JUST WANTED TO SAY I CAME ACROSS YOUR BLOG TODAY AND I LOVE IT VERY MUCH!!
Thanks Anu
appreciate it, glad you enjoyed the article....
Maddy,
Where did you find this "TH Baber was incidentally awarded and collected the bounty of Rs 100,000 for the arrest of the Elaya raja."
I would love to look that up, for reasons that you can well image.
Regards
Nick Balmer
Hi nick
You can get the reference from this book
https://books.google.com/books?id=7qMEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA122
I will send you a mail with the screen shot page 122 footnote
Dear Maddy sir,
Congrats to you, for unravelling the intrigues at Travancore after the demise of the great karthika thirunal Ramavarma aka Dharma Raja
The great marthandavarama ,( even though he was cruel ruler ,used extreme steps to terminate ettuvetil Pillai and later sold their women to mukuvans) laid the foundation for the modern Travancore , hired the cunning Paradesi bhramin ramayyan, some trusted Nair's and used the craftsmanship of dilonoy to build a strong military , mvarma also groomed his nephew by made him participate in fight with Kochi, the yuvaraja himself led the forces in many of the battles, thus made him fit for the throne
Later karthika thirunal used full capacity of two other nair diwans kesavadas Pillai and padathalavan ayyapan marthanda Pillai both were nairs,.
Dilonoy made nedumkotta which enabled forces of Travancore to give a befitting reply to tippu, the then Kochi kings presented puthenvelikra near mala to ayyapan marthanda Pillai for his contribution in the war against tippu
It must be understood mvarma and dhramaraja never offended Brtis , instead like Mysore they used the alliance with Brtis for consolidating their position,in turn Brtis also benefitted
Such great ancestors made tranvacore one of the model princely state, later what happened your story narrates
The people like ummini Thampi etc never understood the trial and tribulation undergone by his father and uncle, instead used all Chanakya ways to get rid of nobles for enjoying un lasting political power ,
Travancore was a state unlike Kochi and calicut, a combination of tamil Brahmin power ,the Nair muscle power , used in a synergistic ways by rulers starting from marthandavarama, even though both Nair and paradesibramins never liked each other , the kings used them effectively, that we can see later years as Travancore became a model state with strong military even reached up to Kochi borders ,
Thank you sir for going in deep the palace intrigues , enjoy to read
On this: "The established practice nowadays in that family is that the rights of succession pass on to the younger brother of the king, then to the nephew of the senior most sister, then maternal first cousins from his eldest aunt."
In fact there is nothing that privileges the senior most sister's issue-- age is the only prerogative, so much so that if a nephew is born before an uncle, the nephew can actually succeed first! With women too, the same. So even in the 1940s where the Fourth and Fifth Princesses were the granddaughters of the Senior Maharani, the Sixth Princess (immediately next in age) was from the Junior Maharani's line. The Seventh Princess again from the Senior Maharani's branch. In other words, age not relationship to the ruler, in any generation was the determining factor.
thank you jayan..
on the kottas I have some new information which I will recount another day. keep reading
thanks manu..
that clarifies matters quite a bit..
rgds
Baber may have got the bounty for catching the real Pazhassi Raja.This Elaya Raja,friend of Ummini Thampi,was also Pazhassi Raja,in British records,since he belonged to Chengam branch of Kolathiri.Real Pazhassi Raja was killed six years ago,in 1806.
Thanks Ramachandran,
The source is specific and I had covered the involvement of TH Baber regarding this Elaya Raja's matters elsewhere in this article -
quote - The East India Company's Government, at Madras, had hunted down this Ellia Rajah from the throne of Travancore; they had put a price of 100,000 rupees upon his head, which the late Judge Baber claimed. The Raja was a state prisoner at Chingleput.[ed. B. F. I. Mag.]
unquote
If I recall right, the Pazhassi Raja's bounty was lesser, 3,000 pagodas or 12,000 rupees.
Hello Maddy,
You have unearthed some fascinating later details of Kerala Varma's life after he had left Baber's jail at Kudrur. This prison doesn't seem to have held other prisoners as far as I can tell, so I think it might have been a situation more like house arrest judging by James Welshes description of the visit they played.
I wonder if Thomas Baber every actually received his 100,000 rupee reward for capturing Ellia Rajah. He had other awards made to him by government, but getting those awards honoured was another thing entirely.
He was still trying to get paid an award from 1809 during the late 1820's, and I cannot find any record of the 100,000 rps ever being paid.
Blogs continue to get better and better.
Like Nick said,it is really amazing-I first saw this Kerala Varma plotting with Velu Thampi and then against Munro.I didn't know Baber's involvment.This Kerala Varma along with Kottayam Kerala Varma of 17th century,who got involved in Travancore intrigues is good material for a book-other Pazhassis.
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