UMMINI THANKA MARRIED A MALABAR PRINCE

Her Husband was King for just19 days

Historians and filmmakers have painted a tragic picture of the 18th-century Travancore princess, Ummini Thanka, weaving around her, a fateful love story with Marthanda Varma. She was the love interest of the protagonist in the movies, Marthanda Varma(1933)and Ummini Thanka(1961). In fact, she was a staunch enemy of Marthanda Varma, the cruel King, who not only killed her brothers but, hold your breath, her husband, too. We were taken for a ride by the loyal historians of the royal family, by never recording her marriage, and leading us to believe in the fiction, Marthanda Varma directly succeeded his uncle, Rama Varma. 

Marthanda Varma had to kill two natural successors of Rama Varma, to ascend the throne. When Rama Varma died on February 9,1929, Marthanda Varma was only, third in the line, as Prince of Eraniel. The prince of Karunagappally went to Kalkulam, sworn in as King of Travancore, but died within 19 days, in mysterious circumstances. Then, the next successor, Prince of Neyyattinkara, was anointed, as the King. He too died in mysterious circumstances, and Marthanda Varma was coronated as King on 30 August 1729.

The King for 19 days was known as, Thalassery Rajakumaran(Tellicherry prince), nothing much is there on him, in history, except a reference to his absence, during the signing of an agreement with the Dutch by King Rama Varma. When the Attingal Vanchimuttam Pillai blocked the pepper trade with the French in his territory, Rama Varma guaranteed trade at Thengapattanam.The business got cancelled since they wanted pepper, delivered at Kollam. Rama Varma then offered the business to the French at Colachel. Though the French reached Kalkulam with a draft agreement, it could not be signed because the King wanted the presence of Thalassery Rajakumaran. He could not attend because, he was at war with Kayamkulam, as the King of Karunagappally.

Dance of Ragini in Ummini Thanka movie

Ummini Thanka was the daughter of the dead King, Rama Varma. When he was crown Prince, he was given properties, including Kalkulam Fort. I have referred to the legend of Rama Varma marrying a Rajput princess from Ayodhya, Abhirami, and Avira Kochamma in folk tales, in my post, The Murder of Kunju Thampi Brothers. It is a fiction which alluded to Rama Varma, seeing her at the Suchindram temple festival, falling in love and marrying her. History says he married a woman from the Vellala Pillai community, a niece of a person called, Kochu Kumaran Pillai, and had two sons and a daughter. 

The sons were called Kunju Thampi brothers, Thampi Raman Raman and Thampi Adichan. The prefix, Thampi denotes a Pillai, not a Kshatriya, and says, he was the son of the King. Kunju Thampi Brothers became very powerful with the help of the Madurai Naicker, even ousting Marthanda Varma for a brief period of time, sending him to Kollam. Marthanda Varma killed the Thampi brothers, and then, Ummini Thanka and her mother committed suicide. There was no husband or son to Ummini Thanka, in the legend, as well as in history so far. She had a son, also called Raman Thampi.

Marthanda Varma

Marthanda Varma killed the two natural successors of his uncle, assessing that they were weak. When they took over, the Attingal Pillai s resurfaced and entered into an agreement in 1729, with the Nedumangad King. The British gave guns and other weapons to the Kollam King and his loyal, Vanchimuttam Pillai of Attingal, in March. They had an agreement with the Pillai in April, to supply weapons, for a sufficient quantity of pepper. It was to crush them, Marthanda Varma went from Eraniel to Neyyattinkara, killing the weak predecessors.

Was one among those two, Ummini Thanka's husband?
A line in the letter dated March 23,1742, written by Marthanda Varma, to the Chief Minister of Cochin, Paliath Achan, found by Mark De Lannoy and quoted by him in his book, Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore, is a silver lining, in unravelling the mystery of Ummini Thanka. Marthanda Varma writes, A Thampi, my elder brother's son, too joined the rebels.

This letter, on request, has been sent to Historian K Sivasankaran Nair, by De Lannoy, from Leiden University, where he is a Professor. It means, Marthanda Varma had an elder brother, he married the sister of the Thampi brothers, and her husband was a Prince/King(hence her son is called a Thampi).

Now, who was this elder brother?

The Adopted Brother in History

De Lannoy refers to the attempts of Adithya Varma, who was adopted to the Attingal royal family, from Kolathunad, to become the King and the resistance to it by the Pillai s and ministers, who made the Nedumangad King, the King of Travancore, in February 1705. Though Adithya Varma sought the help of the King of Karunagappally, he was not in a position to help, because of internal strife. After the death of Kottayam Kerala Varma, he was not getting any help from Travancore, and he allied with the Kayamkulam King, a friend of the Dutch. The Pillai s of Karunagappally rose in rebellion, and the King had to seek asylum in Kayamkulam, and adopt the nephew of Kayamkulam Raja, his successor, in 1706. Palakkad, Thekkumkur and Cochin Kings, fearing the strengthened Kayamkulam, pressurized the King of Karunagappally to withdraw from the alliance and cancel the adoption. He returned to Karunagappally and then adopted the Junior Rani of Attingal and her two sons, in 1707. This was Marthanda Varma and his elder brother. The King died in September, and the mother of two, assumed the throne, as Regent, because, Marthanda Varma was only a year old, and his elder brother, we do not know.

Travancore historians have played a hide-and-seek game on the mother of Marthanda Varma, and there is hardly any clue about his father. Umayamma Rani, the powerful Queen of Attingal, who ruled the entire Travancore, had adopted two princesses from Kolathunad, Malabar, in 1688. The elder one died without a child, according to the history, written by Vaikathu Pachu Moothathu. Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer says, referring to Mathilakam scrolls, that, Pururuttathi Thirunal, the Junior Rani, was childless. If this is accepted, Marthanda Varma becomes the son of the elder Rani, which has been proved nonsense by De Lannoy by recording, the junior Rani was adopted with two sons. It is well known that Marthanda Varma had his childhood at Karunagappally. 

Alexander Hamilton, who was a trader, during 1683-1723, recorded that a princess of Attingal was in love with a Britisher of Vizhinjam Factory, and he had stayed at the palace for some time. Maybe this love affair prompted the decision to grant permission to the English to establish the Factory at Anchthengu. Hamilton, Thomas Bowrey and Thomas Pitt did combine private trading with their command of ships, on the Indian coast. Hamilton was a Scottish sea Captain, who reached Bombay in 1688. He fought for the East India Company, in a local war and after that, set up a private trade, operating from Surat. He became Commander of Bombay Marines in 1717, to suppress the pirates. 

The love story, told by Hamilton, is there in John Pinkerton's A General Collection of Voyages and Travels(Vol VIII, page 383). According to the agreement on establishing the Anchuthengu Fort, it was specified that the British will present, annual presents, to the Queen. In 1685, according to the story, the envoy who carried the presents, was a " young beautiful English gentleman" and "the occasion was invested with a halo of romance".The female in the story seems to be Junior Rani, the year,1685 may be wrong.

De Lannoy records, when Marthanda Varma and his elder brother returned to Thiruvananthapuram in 1722, their mother became lonely at Karunagappally. At this time, a prince from the Kolathiri family, who was deported by his own family, sought asylum in the Thalassery Fort and the English sent him to Travancore. He was adopted by King Rama Varma, along with his sister and sent to Karunagappally. Since he came from Thalassery, he was known as, Thalassery Rajakumaran. So, he is different from Marthanda Varma's elder brother, though he became King of Travancore in 19 days. He, thus becomes the third one from Malabar, to become the King of Travancore after Kottayam Kerala Varma(died1696), and Adithya Varma(1711-1721). Dharma Raja, who succeeded Marthanda Varma was, Thalassery Rajakumaran's, sister's son. Now, the adoption records say, Thalassery Rajakumaran was adopted as the brother of the King of Neyyattinkara. History saves itself here: Marthanda Varma became the King of Neyyattinkara when he was just 15, and he was the King of Neyyattinkara, and thus, Thalassery Rajakumaran was adopted as the elder brother of Marthanda Varma! Even otherwise, he was his elder brother, since both of them could claim Kolathunad ancestry. When Marthanda Varma shifted from Karunagappally, Thalassery Rajakumaran was sent to Karunagappally.

Pachu Moothath

Assassination of Successors

It was a case of a mix-up by De Lannoy, mixing up two adoptions. The Travancore history which says, Marthanda Varma was the only son in 67 years, born in the Attingal family, remains intact. His mother had no other son.

History becomes straight now, breaking the myth: Ummini Thanka was married to the elder brother, Thalassery Rajakumaran, who became King of Travancore for 19 days, and was assassinated by Marthanda Varma, to usurp the throne. Hence, people who wrote to make Marthanda Varma a hero, threw out Thalassery Rajakumaran from the annals of history, without even attaching a name.

No wonder, she and her son, turned against Marthanda Varma. There is a Raman among the names of the Pillai s Marthanda Varma, hanged. Maybe, it was her son.

Ummini Thanka and her son were kept under house arrest by Marthanda Varma, after the attack on Kalakkad Fort on January 30,1730, by the Thampi brothers and Pillai s. They escaped and joined her brothers, who were with the Madurai Force. On 28 October 1730, Marthanda Varma invited the Thampi brothers for peace talks at Nagercoil palace and killed them. After the murder, Ummini Thanka and her mother rushed to the palace, pulled out their tongue and committed suicide.

Marthanda Varma's mother, Pururuttathi Thirunal was the Attingal Queen then. He prevailed upon her to relinquish all authority, and he shifted her from Attingal to Sreepadam Palace, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1758, he signed a re-adoption treaty with her, which had four conditions.1.Only unmarried princesses could be adopted.2.Only princesses of Kolathunad could be adopted(his mother's family).3.Adoptees will belong to Attingal only.4.Only the eldest male child of a princess so adopted could become the King.

The fourth condition assured that people like Thalassery Rajakumaran would never become Kings in Travancore.

Reference:

1.Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore/Mark De Lannoy
2.Essays on Travancore/Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer
3.Thiruvithamkur Charithram/Pachu Moothath
4.Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair
5.Travancore Dynasty Records/M Raja Raja Varma
6. Marthanda Varma Muthal Munro Vare/K Sivasankaran Nair
7.A New Account of the East Indies/Alexander Hamilton/1727. 
8.At the Turn of the Tide/Lakshmi Raghunandan

See my Post,MURDER OF KUNJU THAMPI BROTHERS