A KING MARRIES HIS STEWARD'S WIFE

But she was a Dewan's Daughter

When Dharmaraja shifted the capital of Travancore from Padmanabhapuram,to Thiruvananthapuram,in 1795,he shifted his four wives too,building palaces for them in the west Fort.The males in the family were instructed from then on,to take consorts from those families alone:Arumana,Vadsseri,Thiruvattar and Nagercoil.Exceptions became the rule,and it reached its zenith during the reign of Ayilyam Thirunal(1860-1880),notorious for his amorous escapades,and drunken bashes.But something very rare happened then-violating the practice,he married a Nair woman from Cochin.She was Kalyanikutty Amma,daughter of the former Valiya Sarvadhikaryakkar,or Prime Minister of Cochin,Nadavarambu Kunjukrishna Menon.

Kalyanikutty

From my childhood onwards,Kunju Krishna Menon had been a mysterious character,after reading,Paliath Achan's efforts to assassinate Menon.It was very difficult to ferret out details then,but details began to over flow,when a research was made into Velu Thampi Dalawa's attempt to kill the Resident,Colin Campbell Macaulay.

Menon belonged to Nadavarambu,in Irinjalakuda and as Sarvadhikaryakkar,or Chief Secretary ,was a favorite of the King of Cochin,Vellarapalliyil Theepetta Thampuran,Rama Varma X(1805-1809).As second in Command,in administration,he was a natural rival to the Chief Minister,Paliath Govindan Achan.Sakthan Thampuran(1790-1805),had crushed the earlier powerful Paliath Achan,and had sent him away.Sakthan Thampuran had advised,before his death,his successor Rama Varma X,not to involve Paliath Achans any more,in administration.The scheming Dewan Velu Thampi of Travancore prevailed upon Rama Varma to reinstate Paliath Govinda Menon,met the King at Tripunithura, Macaulay,then a close friend of Velu Thampi, supported him,and Achan was in the gaddi again.Achan took reins of the country,shifted the King to Vellarapally,a remote village,in Chowara,on the other bank of Aluva,and kept him under house arrest.

Achan found,Nadavarambu Kunju Krishna Menon,blocking him,in his moves to usurp the throne,and the King asked Macaulay to protect Menon by keeping him,with him,at the Residency,Bolgatty Palace.Macaulay,who liked the the talents of Menon agreed.When Achan asked Menon to surrender,Macaulay refused to let him go.

Ayilyam Thirunal

Achan invited rivals in the Cochin camp,Govinda Menon,Commandant,and Minister,Raman Menon to Chendamangalam,to solve the disputes amicably,and both were caught en route,and drowned in Cranganore river.He was waiting for Kunjukrishna Menon.

It was in this back drop,Velu Thampi and Achan found help in each other;Thampi had thought,by killing Macaulay,he could be able to win freedom.Thus the joint forces attacked the Bolgatty Palace,on the night of December 28,1808.Menon,who was staying with Macaulay,had gone to Mattancherry,and Macaulay concealed himself in a lower chamber,and escaped in the morning,after Menon joined him,in a ship,Peacemont.They later shifted to Snow,in the outer sea,and stayed there for few weeks,till the Travancore Nair rebellion was crushed.The Cochin King died within a fort night,and Veera Kerala Varma(1809-1828), known as,Virulam Thampuran,or Karkadakathil Theepetta Thampuran,took over,and made,Menon,Valiya Sarvadhikaryakkar(1809-1812).The British deported Achan to Bombay;when they found him,absconding,  in Thrissur,he was taken forcibly to Bombay.He remained there for 12 years,and died in Varanasi.

Anantha Lakshmi

Within a few months,the King fell out with Menon,finding him,inexperienced,arbitrary and self willed.Menon pursued his enemies with,vindictive ferocity.He took no steps to pay subsidy arrears or indemnity,due to the British.Though,the King complained to Macaulay,no action was taken.When Macaulay was recalled,after publicly hanging the dead body of Velu Thampi on a gibbet,Col John H Munro,Resident Dewan of Travancore,took charge in Cochin too,and the King,approached him with corruption charges against Menon.Munro,while he was Collector in Kozhikode,had been attracted by the efficiency of two brothers,Raman Menon and Krishna Menon,sons of Kunjulakshmi Amma of Narikkad family,Kuruva,Angadippuram.Mankada Raja,Kunjunni Thampuran,who married her,had died early.Krishna Menon was a village officer at Chittur/Nenmara,and Raman Menon,was assistant to Kunjukrishna Menon,at Cochin.When Munro ordered an inquiry against Menon,Raman Menon was able to protect his boss,by setting records favorably.The vindictive King removed the brothers from service,and confiscated their property.

Govindan Achan

Ultimately,Kunju Krishna Menon was pensioned off,in June,1812.At the time of his retirement,the state was in debt to the extent of Rs 600,000.

I have gone into  these details,to tell you that the popular theory of Nadavarambu  Kunjukrishna Menon's daughter marrying King Ayilyam Thirunal,spread by vested interests,as a bonding between the two kingdoms,is wrong.His daughter married Ayilyam Thirunal,only in 1862,5o years after Menon was pensioned off.She was born in 1839,27 years after he was retired.Kalyanikutty was the only daughter of Menon and Cheranallur Mathripilli Lakshmi Amma.

Ayilyam Thirunal had married,before he became King,his uncle,King Uthram Thirunals's daughter,Madhavi, of Thiruvattar,in 1854.She died within few years.It was after this,the King fell for Eswara Pillai Vicharippukar s,wife Kalyanikutty.So,she was already married to a palace steward.In return,Eswara Pillai became the proud owner of the vast Punnakkal property,to the west of Padmanabha Swamy Temple,inside the Fort.The area itself is known as Punnakkal.Pillai had entered palace service,during Uthram Thirunal.He was an acclaimed Kathakali actor,who led the Kathakali Yogam,the first Kathakali Truoupe in the State,formed by Uthram Thirunal,and with the King's prodding,started a printing press,Kerala Vilasam,in 1852,the first press owned by an individual.Several unpublished classics saw light of the day,from the press,including,Ulsava Prabandham(1853)and Anpathinalu Divasathe Attakathakal(1857).

King Sree Moolam Thirunal too kept up this tradition,when he married in 1899,Karthyayani of Kaipilli,Palkulangara,wife of palace servant,Sankaran.Sankaran in turn,became influential,got the title of Thampi,and he married Karthyayani's younger sister,who was in love with Narayana Kurukkal,Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai's Guru.This was the basic reason for Pillai to rebel against the King.

After three years of marriage,in 1865,Kalyanikutty was adopted into Nagercoil amma veedu,meaning,she was just a concubine,for three years.The marriage with Eswara Pillai,was dissolved.Along with Kalyanikutty,the King adopted two nieces and one nephew of her,as his children.One niece,Anantha Lakshmi(daughter of Kunjulakshmi) was married to Ayilyam Thirunal's nephew,Sree Moolam Thirunal,in 1879,and records say,the other(daughter of Karthyayani) married a Thirumulpad and a son,Nagercoil Achyuthan Thampi.Anantha Lakshmi died at child birth,in 1882.Kalyanikutty was a Sanskrit scholar who wrote poems and plays,and was a minor celebrity,as wife of the King.Her works include,Rasakrida,Satyapanchakam,Pativratapanchakam and Ambareeshacharitham.She died,issue less,in 1909.

John Munro

The first commission given to Raja Ravi Varma,by Ayilyam Thirunal was,Kalyanikutty's portrait.The King commissioned the English painter,Theodore Jensen for a portrait of his wife and him,but the painter was annoyed,when they gave only separate sittings.The King was barred from appearing with a Sudra wife publicly.

There is a sub text to the story:Ankarath Raman Menon,who was removed by the King of Cochin,was made an advocate in Kollam Kutcheri by Munro. He became a Judge at Alapuzha and finally Dewan Peshkar, a Dalawa and  Dewan of Travancore in 1815-1817,when Sanku Annavi Pillai retired. He had fallen out with Munro,after he took to task,Chief of Forests,Captain Gordon.Remembering the ill treatment he got in Cochin,as Dewan, he raked up a dormant border dispute case between Travancore and Cochin,in which Cochin was definite to lose territory.The dreadful Cochin King ,learning a person from Cochin has turned against Cochin,sent a messenger to Menon, asking to meet him.Raman Menon refused ,saying he is now a Padmanabha dasa,and can meet another King only if the Regent Queen sends him.Raja of Cochin sent a letter,Regent Gowri Lakshmi Bayi agreed and Raman Menon was received by the Raja at the border with state honors,gave his family,the title,Mannadi Nair,or Mannadiyar.The King gave a Veerasringhala to Krishna Menon,re instated him, as Tahsildar at Chittur/Nenmara,and gave back the confiscated Ankarath tharavad property.

A R Pillai(1880-1938),Indian expatriate,who worked for Indian freedom in Germany,as writer,Journalist and publisher,was closely related to Eswara Pillai.His mother was the niece of Eswara Pillai.

Reference:

1.The Cochin State Manual/C Achyutha Menon
2.Sarvadhikaryakkar P Govinda Pilla/P Damodaran Nair
Note:The portrait of Anantha Lakshmi,by P Mukundan Thampi

See my Post,A GREAT POET AS HOSTAGE IN TRAVANCORE