LOVE IN THE TIME OF TIPU: DHARMA RAJA AND MANORAMA

She was in love with the King's nephew too

No empire will survive the test of time,except the creative empire.Any upheaval,or destruction,has its creative side,a sinister beauty.Love in the time of Cholera,is a wonderful expression,for the chaotic love, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez.Dharma Raja,Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma,of Travancore,loved Manorama from the Zamorin family of Kozhikode,at the time of the upheaval by Tipu Sultan.He was old enough to be her father,a young woman who had sought asylum in the soil of Travancore.

Hyder Ali annexed Kolathunad in Malabar in February,1766,and the royal family members  moved to Thalassery English Factory,and the Thekkilamkur,to Thiruvangad temple,near Thalassery.They were sent by the English to Travancore,in a ship and Raja Rama Varma,settled them at Paravur.In April,Hyder laid siege to Kozhikode and the Zamorin committed suicide,setting fire to his palace,on 27 April,1766.The Eralpadu or the crown prince,and family too moved to Paravur.When there was a challenge from the Marathas,Hyder went back,and before his journey back,called the Eralpadu to Kozhikode and ordained him as a vassal.

When Hyder,died in 1782,Tipu was in Ponnani,and he rushed back to Srirangapattana.The princes and chieftains were up in arms again,and Tipu came back in 1789,to crush the local rebellions.He killed a Kolathunad prince and his dead body was dragged by an elephant through his camp,and then hung up,on a tree.17 of his loyalists were also hanged publicly.

Dharma Raja Rama Varma

Between these upheavals,several royal branches from Malabar settled in various parts of Travancore.Even after the return of Tipu in 1790,the Zamorin stayed back.The prominent royal families,who have migrated from Malabar and settled in Travancore are 16:Neerazhi Kovilakam(Changanacherry),Ennakkad Gramathil Kovilakam(from where Communist leader George Chadayammuri found his life partner),Paliyakkara(Tiruvalla),Nedumparampu,Chempara Madom,Ananthapuram Kottaram(Haripad),Ezhumattur Palace,Aranmula Kottaram,Varanad Kovilakam,Mavelikara,Murikoyikkal Palace,Mariapilly(Kottayam),Koratti Swarupam,Kaipuzha Kovilakam,Lakshmipuram Palace,Changanacherry(of LPR Varma) and Kottapuram.

Rama Varma himself,was the son of a Kolathiri princess,Karthika Thirunal Parvathi Bai,who was adopted to Attingal royal family,and she was the queen when he reigned.His father,Kerala Varma from Kilimanur,was killed in 1728 November.Rama Varma did his best to bring succor to the Malabar royal family branches:he wrote a letter to the Bombay Governor,in 1766 ,alleging Hyder had Dutch support.In the letter,Rama Varma guaranteed pepper from the whole of Malabar at the rate of Rs 70/Candy.When the threat from Tipu came,the crown prince of Cochin,Sakthan Thampuran,met Tipu at Palakkad Fort,on May 26,1788,and Rama Varma and the Cochin King met at Annamanada,on June 4.Then Rama Varma requested the English for a few battalions and two came,under Captain Knox and Powney,garrisoned at Paravur,and Powney became the first Resident,laying the foundation for residency administration.

Paliam Nalukettu

The Zamorin family has three branches:Kizhakke Kovilakam at Kottakkal,Puthiya Kovilakam at Thiruvannur and Padinjare Kovilakam at Mankavu.Manorama was from the Kizhakke Kovilakam.Following tradition,she learn t Sanskrit from childhood,became very proficient,wrote in Sanskrit.She was a scholar-poet,and even a Guru for the upcoming scholars.The Paliam family records say that one Kochu Sankaran Moothath of Vadakkedam,Thriprayar stayed at Paliam in Chendamangalam,and was a student of Manorama Thampuratty.Since Chendamangalam is very close to Paravur,it has to be assumed,Manorama had stayed at Paravur,maybe in the Paliam Kovilakam itself,but not always,because I have read,she stayed with Rama Varma at Krishnapuram palace, Kayamkulam,and watched ,Thiruvathira kali,with the King.She played Veena.The palace was built by Rama Varma's predecessor,Marthanda Varma,after annexing Kayamkulam,in 1746.I have read that the well in the compound could be seen from the master bed room,for the King to spy if someone was throwing poison into the well!

Krishnapuram Palace

His love for Manorama became public,when a letter,written to her by him,was leaked in 1786.He was 62,then,with four consorts:Kali Amma Nagamani Amma of Vadasseri and three  Thiruvattar,Arumana and Nagarcoil ammachi s.He built four houses for each in the West Fort,and shifted the capital from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram.

Though,Rama Varma was weak in administration,leaving everything to Raja Kesavadas,the Dewan,who also had a love interest in Arumana,he was  extremely creative,and in turbulence,the only solace is sex.He is the author of 150 compositions,among them,7 prominent Kathakali plays:Rajasooyam,Subdraharanam,Gandarva Vijayam,Panchali Swayamvaram,Bakavadham,Kalyanasougandikam and Narakasuravadham. He gave priority to Sringara padams, and made it compulsory for each character to enter with Sringara pada.

His magnum opus,is,Balaramabharatam,a treatise on dramaturgy,which he is supposed to have completed with the help of Manorama.The period of completion,is that of the invasion of Tipu.

Rama Varma has said that it was written after a careful study of Lasya Tantra.It gives details of hastas(hand gestures),angas(major limbs),Upangas(minor limbs)and Pratyangas(neck,wrists,knees,thighs).It is considered by most of the Mohiniyattam scholars as an important treatise on technicalities of Mohiniyattam,because,one of the earliest references to Mohiniyattam,is in Balaramabharatam.The popular danseuse and scholar,Methil Devika,differs in this,saying the treatise refers,not to Mohiniyattam,but Mohininatanam;it means only the stance that Mohini takes.But Devika too acknowledges the role of Manorama,saying,her correspondence with Rama Varma is historical.The fact remains,no Mohiniyattam thesis is there,without mentioning the Rama Varma-Manorama Jugalbandi.Palace records show expenditure on Mohiniyattam,as early as 1801,hinting at the efforts of Rama Varma,much before Swati Thirunal.

Hand gestures in Mohiniyattam/Haritha Haridas

Except for few slokas,nothing much written by Manorama,is available.But a few years ago,16 palm leaves manuscripts at Kottakkal Kovilakam,were verified by experts,and among them,a commentary on Paniniyam, written by Manorama,on the primary Sanskrit grammatical text by sage Panini,was found,and it was titled,Manorama.
That the commentary,has the title,Manorama,reveals,her real name was,something else.T M Chummar,in his Padya Sahithya Charitram(History of Poetry),has recorded that she was well versed in Bhattoji Dikshita's complex 17th century grammatical work,Praudamanorama,and so she came to be called Manorama.Her family tree,though with lot of vacuums,reveals, she had in fact a sister,with the name Manorama.They were eight children,born to Krishna Bhattathiri and Ambika Thampuratti.Manorama had seven children.According to C Rajendran,who was Head of the Dept of Sanskrit,Calicut University,her lament at the plight of having been forced to be the life partner of an illiterate Nambudiri,was matched by her romantic epistles addressed to,Prince Aswathi Thirunal of Travancore.If true,she had another affair.  Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma was Dharma Raja Rama Varma's nephew,who was an art lover, co-ordinating the visits of,scholars,such as,Kunchan Nambiar,Puthiyikal Thampan,Mandavapally Ittirarissa Menon,Sadasiva Deekshithar,Kalyana Subramanya kavi,Pandalam Subramania Sastri, Marar who wrote Rameswaram Yathra Thullal,Nambudiri who wrote,Chathaka Sandesam,Idavettikattu Nambudiri,Neelakanta Deekshitar and records show,Kozhikode Manorama Thampuratti!Aswathi Thirunal himself was a scholar. 
Rameswaram Yathra Thullal,was written by a Marar of Ettumanur, Kottayam,based on Rama Varma's Rameswaram pilgrimage in November,1784,to immerse his mother's ashes there.She had died in May,1782 .There is a mention of Aswathi Thirunal,in it;the King says:
Nammude Marumakanunni
Nammude koode Porattippol
(Let my young nephew accompany me,now) 

Malabar Lady with Veena/Ravivarma

Aswathi Thirunal was the son of Queen of Attingal,Uthradam Thirunal,who was adopted from Kolathunad,in 1747.She married Kochu Koyikkal Thampuran of Thattarath Koil.She had another son,Prince Anizham Thirunal Bala Rama Varma,and both the sons were born in Sripadam Palace,Fort.Aswathi Thirunal became Elaya Raja or crown prince,in 1786.
As the first graduate among the princes in Travancore, as an eminent Sanskrit poet,play wright and writer of Kathakali plays,the young Aswathi Thirunal(1756-1794),was a better match to Manorama.Apart from completing Narakasura Vadham Kathakali play,of his uncle,he wrote four:Poothanamoksham,Rukmini Swayamavaram,Ambareesha Charitham and Poundraka Vadham.Among Kathakali play writers,he was known as,Vancheeswara Sreshtan.He wrote,Vancheesa Sthavam,Kartha Veerya Vijayam and Santhana Gopalam in the form of Prabandhas and one drama,Rukmini Parinayam.
It is also said that,Rama Varma used to live with Manorama at Mavelikara.Records show that Rama Varma,conducted a Yaga at Aluva in 1788,on a large scale,before Tipu's advent,maybe to block him.After the Yaga,he retreated to Mavelikara,for the adoption of two daughters,Parvathi and Uma,of Mahaprabha Amma Thampuran(1755-1832),of Chenga Kovilakam,Chirakkal,who had migrated during Tipu's aggression.She had five daughters,and the adoption was on October 26,1788.He celebrated Navarathri,there.The Dalawa,Krishnan Chempaka Raman, died in Thiruvananthapuram,and the King appointed Kesavadas as new Dewan,issuing order from Mavelikara.
The Travancore rulers during,1829-1924,had the lineage of the adopted daughter,Parvathi,who died on October 15,1893.Mahaprabha had three more daughters,Bhageerathi,Mahaprabha and Arya,and later,Sree Moolam Thirunal adopted,daughter of Mahaprabha,Sethulakshmi and daughter of Bhageerathi,Sethu Parvathi,on 30 August,19oo,leading ultimately to great friction,between the two.The last Maharaja,Chithira Thirunal,was the son of Sethu Parvathi,but Sethulakshmi was the Regent when he was a minor.At the time of Rama Varma,Mahaprabha and her daughters,stayed in the Koyikkal Palace,Arattukadavu,Prayikkara;later they shifted to the newly built Vadakke Kottaram/Valiyakottaram and stayed there,till,1837.
I spoke about the leak of Rama Varma's love letter in 1786-any guess,who was behind it?My answer is,you guessed right,Aswathi Thirunal.
Manorama was well versed in the annotation of Siddhantakaumudi.She was the first to write a commentary on Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri's very complex,Prakriyasarvasvam,along with,Thrikkandiyur Govinda Pisharoti.Kerala Varma Valiya Koyil Thampuran did a second commentary,and paid glowing tribute to Manorama:

Vidyavidagdhar vanitajana vallikalkko-
rudyanami ruchirakerala bhuvibhagam
hridya manorama naresvari thante suktir
adhyapi kovidamanassu kavarnnidunnu
( To the vines of feminine geniuses excelling in scholarship
A garden this lovely land of Kerala here been!
Endearing Manorama-the human goddess-
Robs the hearts of wise men,with her fascinating verses)

Thus,Manorama was the first woman writer from Kerala,though not in Malayalam.

Valiyakoyil Thampuran

 

Tipu left Kerala in 1790,and Rama Varma,died eight years later,when he was 74.It is definite that Manorama went back to Kottakkal,because the 250 members of the family claim descendance from Manorama and her brothers,and they refer to her as, K C Manorama Thampuratti.It is believed,Manorama resettled there,after the death of Tipu,in 1799.She had to,because Aswathi Thirunal died,four years before Rama Varma,when he was just 38.

Two other prominent members from the Kottakkal family,were,K C Manavedan Raja,the Collector,who built Rajas' School,and M K Vellodi,diplomat.

Reference:

1.Martanda Varma Muthal Munro Vare/K Sivasankaran Nair

2.Padyasahithya Charithram/T M Chummar
3.A Primer of Malayalam Literature/T K Krishna Menon
4.From Veneration to Virulence:A Case for a Women's Literary History in Malayalam/Dr Jancy James/Social Scientist/Oct-Dec,1995
5.C Rajendran's speech in Kozhikode,The Hindu,June 3,2012
6.Mohiniyattam Missteps-A few Observations/ Methil Devika
7.Mohiniyattam:Charithram,Sidantham,Prayogam/Kalamandalam Sathyabhama
Courtesy: Sasidhara Varma of Mannurmadom Palace,Mavelikara,for Mavelikara genealogy.

See my Post,KOZHIKODE,COCHIN AND NAIRS IN LUSIAD

KOZHIKODE, COCHIN AND NAIRS IN PORTUGAL

The Epic speaks of casteism in Malabar too

It was in Francis Day's very mediocre history of Cochin,The Land of Perumals,I first read about the great Portuguese poet,Luis Vaz de Camoes(rendered in English as,Camoens),singing praises of Cochin,in his epic,Lusiad.As time went by,I found the final three cantos of the epic,with a total of 10 cantos,were devoted entirely to Kozhikode,and there was only a fleeting remark on Cochin,and it sang paeans about the fighting community of Nairs.

Listen to what the epic has to say on Nairs:

By the proud Nayres the noble rank claimed;

The toils of culture and of art they scorn,

The warrior's plumes their haughty brows adorn;

The shining faulchion brandished in the right

Their left arm wields the target with tight;

Of danger scornful,ever armed they stand

Around the King,a stern barbarian band.

The epic was published in 1572,and I am sure,within the next four centuries,the barbarian band has steadily progressed into a cultured band.

Camoes/Portrait by Fernao Gomez,C.1577

Camoes,not only wrote about Kozhikode,Cochin,Kannur,Kodungallur and Kollam,but,lived in the Malabar Coast and battled for the Portuguese;from the Malabar Coast he went up the trade route to Egypt and returned to Goa.He was deported to Goa,after a fracas with a palace official,with a punishment to serve three years, in Indies.His father,Simao Vaz de Camoes,had left for India,at an early age,seeking fortune,and had died in Goa.Camoes was the only son of Simao and wife,Ana de Sa de Macedo.Condemned to serve three years,Francis Day records,he served 16 years in India.When the promises of his bosses didn't materialize,he decided to return to Portugal,but the Governor who wanted to retain him,Day says,imprisoned him,to a debt of 200 ducats.His friends paid it,Camoes was free and wrote,Lusiad.

The facts are slightly different.

First edition cover of Lusiad

Camoes was born in 1524,and educated by Dominicans and Jesuits and he was fortunate in having his uncle,Bento de Camoes as Prior at the Manastery of Santa Cruz and Chancellor of the University of Coimbra.Camoes enrolled in the University,and it is believed,he fell in love with Catherine of Ataide,the Lady-in- Waiting to the Portugal Queen,and also,Princess Maria,sister of King John III of Portugal.These affairs and the discreet allusion to the King,in his play,El Rei Seleuco,may have played a part in his exile of 1548.After staying with friends in Ribatejo for six months,he enlisted in overseas militia,to Teuta,in 1549.In the battle with Moors,he lost sight of the right eye,returned to Lisbon in 1551,led a bohemian life,and during the religious festival of Corpus Christi,in the Largo do Rossio,had a fracas with Gonzalo Borges,member of Royal Stables,attacked and injured him.Camoes was imprisoned,but freed on the pleading of his mother to the King and the Borges family,for a fine of 4000 reis and three years compulsory militia service in the Orient.He reached Goa in 1553,on board,Sao Bento,commanded by Fernao Aloes Cabral.

Portugal stamp of Gama meeting Zamorin

Francis Day's account of the Governor,punishing Camoes,for retaining him in India,seems to be exaggerated,because,Camoes was punished initially after six months of his arrival,and imprisoned for debt.But he enjoyed Goa and famously said later,Goa is a step mother to all honest people.He battled first on the Malabar Coast,then along the Egyptian trade route to suppress pirates,and returned to Goa,in,1554.

At the end of the term of three years,he was made Chief Warrant Officer,in Macau,but was charged with managing the properties of missing and deceased soldiers in the Orient.He began writing,Lusiad,during this time of upheaval,in a grotto.Accused of misappropriation,he traveled to Goa to appear before the Tribunal.On return,he got shipwrecked,in the Mekong river,along the Cambodian coast,and the legend has it that he succeeded in swimming ashore,holding the manuscript,afloat.He saved the manuscript,but lost his Chinese lover,Dinamene.He reached Lisbon in 1570,and the manuscript saw light of the day two years later.It became a sensation and the ill fated, young King Dom Sebastian(1557-1558),granted him a small pension of 15000 reis.The King was killed a year later,in the battle of Akacer Quibir.

The day of Camoes' death,June 10(1580)is Portugal's national day.He was interred near Vasco da Gama,in the Jeranimos Monastery in the parish of Belem.He was born in the year,Vasco da Gama died.

King Sebastian

Lusiad,translated by Sir Richard Fanshaw(1608-1666) into English,is Portugal's historical poem,celebrating the nation's conquests in the East.10 Cantos of the poem has 1102 stanzas and Kozhikode/ Calicut appears in Canto VII.At the penultimate port,a friendly Moor,Moncaide, told the narrator of the epic,Lusiads,son of Lusus,or Portugal,or Vasco da Gama,that at Calicut,the Queen of India,lived the Zamorin,Lord of India,to whom all subject kings paid their tribute.And,then Gama sees,Calicut.

CANTO VI,STANZA 92:

Now splendid Morning tipt the hills with red

Whence rolls the Gange his sacred sounding tide,

When sea men percht upon the topmast head

High lands far rising o'er the prows descried

Now,'scaped the tempest and the first sea-dread

fled from each bosom terrors vain,and cried,

the Melindanian Pilot in Delight,

"Calecut-land,if aught I see aright!"

"The prows descried ",is explained in a foot note,as Mount Delli,near Kannur.

CANTO VII,STANZA 22

The Country-people call this range the Ghaut,

and from its foot-hills scanty breadth there be

whose sea ward-sloping coast-plain long hath fought

'gainst Ocean's natural ferocity:

Here o'er her neighbor Cities,sans a doubt,

Calecut claimeth highest dignity,

Crown of the kingdom fair and flourishing:

Here he entitled "Samorim" is King

 

Now,the encounter of Gama with Zamorin,translated into prose:

CANTO VII

 

Gama,adorned in his most splendid garments and accompanied by his train,also in bright array,entered the gilded barges and rowed to the shore,where stood the Catual,the Zamorin's minister.Moncaide acted as interpreter.The company passed through a temple on their way to the palace,in which the Christians were horrified at the graven images there worshiped.On the palace walls were the most splendid pictures,relating to the history of India.One wall,however bore no sculptures;the Brahmins had foretold that a foreign foe would at some time conquer India,and that space was reserved for scenes from those wars.

Into the splendid hall adorned with tapestries of clothes of gold and carpets of velvet,Gama passed and stood before the couch on which sat the mighty Monarch.The room blazed with gems of gold;the Monarch's mantle was of clothes of gold and his turban shone with gems.His manner was majestic and dignified;he received Gama in silence,only nodding to him to tell his story.

So,the Zamorin was not having a crown,but a turban!

In Richard Burton's translation(1880),Moncaide,the interpreter,is corrected to,Mon Sayeed.Maybe,Mon stands for Monsignor,but is has been clarified in the text that,he was a Muslim.Catual,the Zamorin's minister,has been explained by Burton,as Kot-wal,Captain of Fort.

After the meeting,Catual asks Sayeed to learn more about the new arrivals.Catual then goes to Portuguese ships.

 

Comoes with manuscript of Lusiad /Charles Le Grand

CANTO VIII

Catual sees the paintings.Bacchus appears to him in a vision as a Muslim priest,in Zamorin's court and convinces him that the explorers are a threat.The priest spreads the story,and the Zamorin confronts Gama.Catual,corrupted by Muslim traders,refuses to lend Gama a boat to reach his ship,and holds Gama a prisoner.Finally,Gama is released only after agreeing to offload all the cargo.

CANTO IX

Sayeed  reveals to Gama,a plot by Muslim traders to attack and kill him,and Gama's ship leaves Kozhikode.

CANTO X

The future is revealed by Tethys:Duarto Pacheco Pereira will defend Cochin,in battle of Cochin.Here,the martyrdom of St Thomas at Mylapore,is recounted.

 

Tomb of Camoes

From what I have abridged,the politics Camoes has weaved into the epic is amazing,but borrowed from Portuguese historian,Joao Barros. Portuguese in battle with the Muslim traders,at the same time,getting help from some lay Muslims like,Sayeed.That Camoes was a total Catholic has also been revealed,in the description of the journey of Gama from the port to the palace,when he records the shock of the accompanying Christians,seeing the Hindu idols.If we examine the work of missionaries in Kerala,from then on,the focus of their attack was on the many idols,while preaching monotheism.

Camoes,one eyed,with pen and sword

The surprising element in the vision of Catual,is the Muslim priest in the Zamorin's court,where by Camoes hints at the influence Muslims wielded with Zamorin.Though written 350 years after the visit of Gama,Francis Day,a Christian missionary,records in his book,The Land of the Perumals(1863),that the Zamorin never granted an audience,to a Muslim,which in turn,made Hyder Ali furious,culminating in the suicide of the Zamorin.Day has once again played the Christian/Muslim politics,which still exists in Kerala.According to Day,it was the custom of Zamorin to maintain 1500 Brahmins in his palace and while they were fed,he fasted.No Muslim ever had an audience with him.Hyder requested an interview,but the Zamorin declined and said,he will meet the Head Brahmin of Hyder.Hyder,imagining that a little fasting would bring the zamorin to a knowledge of his helpless position,sent rice the following day for only 500 Brahmins,on the second day only for 300,third,100,after which he stopped sending rice.Zamorin fasted for three days,then set fire to his palace,and perished in flames.Some women in his family and three Brahmins were also killed.

Of Course,the Zamorin committed suicide.But,Day's account,you will agree,is not secular.It was the Portuguese who brutally killed the erstwhile Muslim naval commander of Zamorin,Kunhali Marakkar,and hanged his dead body,in Goa.

Barros

Like many,I had also thought,the description of kozhikode by Camoes,was first hand.But,Thomas Moore Musgrave,in his translation of Lusiad(1826),has pointed out that much of the history has been borrowed from ,Joao de Barros'(1496-1570),Decades of Asia.Barros was one of the first great historians of Portugal, and Treasurer at the India House.The first three volumes of his book were published during,1552-1570.

I conclude by quoting two gems from Luciad, on casteism in Kerala.

CANTO VII,STANZAS 37/38:

Two modes of men are known;the nobles know

the name of Nayrs,who call the lower caste

Poleas,whom their haughty laws contain

from intermingling with the higher strain

..............

These Nayrs as sin and shame,forsooth,despise

the touch of outcasts and they fain believe

that,paradventure,if the touch occur,

a thousand rites must wash their bodies pure.

Four centuries have passed,and if Camoes were to reach Kozhikode today,would you ask him to delete these lines,or make it stronger?

Reference:

1.Translations of Lusiad by Sir Richard Fanshaw(1655) , Sir Richard Burton(1880),Thomas Moore Musgrave(1826) and William Julius Mickle(1778)
2.National Epics:The Story of Lusiad/Kate Milner Rabb
3.The Land of Perumals/Francis Day

 

See my Post, A CHRISTIAN IN MALABAR ROYAL FAMILY

 

 

LIFE AND LOVES OF CATHERINE COOKE IN KERALA

Thrice Married, and still adventurous

When Catherine Cooke set foot at Anchuthengu,after the monsoon,in 1717,with her third husband,William Gyfford, who was just appointed Chief of the East India Company's Factory there,she was determined to make a fortune.She had been once the wife of the Chief of the Company's trading Fort at Karwar,John Harvey,when she was hardly 14.The elderly,deformed Harvey was a spring board for her,brought up in abject poverty.

She had touched the Indian shore,on 7 October,1709,in Karwar,a west coast city in  North Karnataka,on a ship,Loyal Bliss,a slow ship,which was bound for Bengal,but strayed away,west ward.At Karwar,John Harvey,Chief of the East India Factory,received Captain Hudson and the passengers,Captain Gerarrd Cooke,his wife a son and two daughters among them.Captain Cooke,a poor man,had left two daughters in England.He had earlier served the Company as Gunner at Fort William,Calcutta,doing several incongruous duties.He went back,now to return as Engineer with the rank Captain.Captain Cooke's daughter,Catherine aroused interest in Harvey immediately.
The English Courteen Association had established a Factory at Kadwad village,six kilometres east of Karwar,in 1638,and traded with the Arabs and Africans.It merged with the Company in 1649,and fighting ships were built on the harbor.When Catherine arrived,Karwar was part of the Maratha Empire.

Karwar Fort

Harvey,enamored by Catherine,forgot to report to Bombay,the arrival of Loyal Bliss,and was reprimanded,in due course.Captain Cooke was in a hurry to get back to Bengal,and on Octoberr 22, the ship started off to Bengal,leaving Catherine at Karwar.Harvey,who  had made little money in private trade, decided to resign by the end of 1710 and return to England.Robert Mence replaced him at Karwar.
Harvey and Catherine reached Bombay in April,1711,and as usual with the employees of the Company,found their accounts mixed up with that of the Company,and cannot leave India,unless a settlement was made.The employees of he Company were not paid well,and they were doing private trade using the Company's money.Harvey had leased out his vessel,Salamander to the Company,and the Company found that he had taken twice the amount from the Company's chest,and he was asked to pay back,402 pagodas,17 Jett and 4 paise.He replied in August that he has a chest of pillar dollars at Thalassery weighing 289 lbs,3 ozs and 10 darts.He requested the Company to credit it at Thalassery and pay him in Bombay.
With Harvey,old enough to be her grandpa,Catherine made two important acquaintances in Bombay,which were destined to have considerable influence in her future life.They were Thomas Chown and William Gyfford.After trading 21 days in the Yemeni port of Mocha,the ship,Godolphin ,arrived in Bombay,on August 5,and anchored outside,taking a risk,considering the bad weather.It wrecked in the night,at the foot of Malabar Hill,and Thomas Chown,Second Supercargo of the ship,was among the survivors.He lost all possessions.Gyfford had joined the Company six years before,at age,17.

Kanhoji Angre

Mence died at Karwar in October,and it was found he owed the Company,1700 pagodas,which he had pumped into private trade.Harvey and Catherine traveled to Karwar,to settle some pending individual accounts, with Miles Fleetwood,who was appointed  the new Chief.Four months later,Harvey died at Karwar,leaving a girl widow.Catherine remained there,asserting her claims on Harvey's estate,since he had not made a will.Chown was sent to Karawar as a Factor,two months later and he married Catherine,soon after.After selling Harvey's properties,Catherine was paid by the Company,13146 rupees,1 panam and 12 budgerooks.She and Chown decided to settle in Bombay and boarded the ketch,Anne,on November 3,1712,which had carried pepper and wax as cargo.It was accompanied by Governor William Aislabie's yacht and small frigate,Defiance,for protection from pirates.In the same night,the Maratha Admiral,Kanhoji Angre(Konajee Angria/Sarkhel Angre)and his force swooped in,and the British vessels surrendered.In the heavy action,Chown had his arm torn off by cannon shots and he died in Catherine's arms.Catherine,who was 18,and expecting a child,was taken as prisoner to Colaba,with 17 others.In the absence of the Governor,who was in Surat,the Company wrote a letter to Angre,requesting the release of the prisoners.After a month,the British paid a ransom of Rs 30,000 and the prisoners were released to Lieutenant  Mackintosh,on February 22,1713.Mackintosh had to wrap his clothes around Catherine,to cover her nakedness.The Company paid her an installment of Rs 1000 from Harvey's estate and 100 xeraphims as monthly allowance.The English had called Angre,a pirate,while for Indians,he is the father of Indian Navy,who remained undefeated,till his death,in 1729.The descendants of Angre continued his fight,and Francis Day's The Land of the Perumals ,records ,Angre's 'piratorial fleet' consisting of 7 grabs and 6 galleys appeared in Cochin in 1749,but sailed away.In 1754,they attacked,three Dutch vessels:the Wemmenum with 50 guns,Vreede with 30 guns and the barque,Jaccatra,with 18.The first two took fire and blew up,the third surrendered.

Angre Samadhi

William Gyfford married Catherine,within a short while,with the Governor's approval.Alexander Hamilton has recorded that,his friend and East India Company representative,Captain Solomon Lloyd had married without the Governor's approval-Governor Sir John Gayer dissolved it and then his son married the bride(after that,he married the daughter of Dr Alexander Orme,Chief at Anchuthengu).Catherine bombarded the Company with letters of claims,and she was paid Rs 7492 in October,from Harvey's estate.Gyfford,who was a favorite of the Governor,was made in charge of the Bombay market,and 18 months after his marriage,was made Supercargo of Catherine,trading to Mocha.After two years,he was appointed Chief at Anchuthengu.
When Catherine and Gyfford arrived at Anchuthengu,the Factory was totally corrupt.When Nicholas Waite took over as the Governor in 1704,John Brabourne had left Anchuthengu,for Madras,because,he didn't get money or instructions from Waite,leaving the Fort to,Simon Cowse,a private trader.Cowse fought with the Merchant Second,John Kyffin.Gyfford was sent when the Company caught Kyffin in charges of private trade and corruption.Gyfford followed the same corrupt practices,joined the Linguist at the Factory, Ignatio Malheiro in spreading communal friction.Gyfford did private trade with the brigantine,Thomas,commanded by Catherine's brother,Thomas Cooke.Though 1720 was quiet,the situation got charged when a strumpet of Malheiro,smeared powder on a Muslim trader,on an Ash Wednesday.Gyfford and his team of 132 were massacred on 14 April,1721,in the premises of the Attingal palace.
Only four males were left at the Factory,apart from the women,children and pensioners:The store keeper,Robert Sewell,Lt Peter Lapthorne,Ensign Thomas Davis and the Gunner,Samuel Ince.Only Ince was loyal to the Company,while others were plundering.Malheiro looted 1 lakh and sent it to Kollam.

On April 15 itself,Ince sent Catherine(no information on her child),Mrs Cowse and four children,Mrs Burton and two children,in a ship,Prosperous,bound for Ceylone.Catherine carried off all the records and the money,she could lay her hands on.She even tried to carry,Lapthorne,which was prevented by Sewell.So,the rumor,Gyfford was using her for his private trade has some substance.She gave hasty directions to Lapthorne to act as her Agent,and Lapthorne sent a letter to her,after she reached Madras,that what remained in the ware house was,two wiggs and a bolster and some ophium.
On April 25,two ships from Cochin,arrived at Anchuthengu,and on 1 May,Adams sent 52 soldiers from Thalassery.There was vigorous attack on the Fort on June 24.Midford,the new Chief arrived from Madras on 17 October,with 300 men.Sewell and Lapthorne were arrested.Dr Alexander Orme,who replaced Midford,reported that Gyfford owed the Company,559421 panams,and during Midford,140260 gold panams disappeared.Midford had drawn pay for 20 soldiers,who didn't exist.

Inside Anchuthengu Fort

Catherine landed at Madras on 17 May and she rejected the allowance offered by the Company.She joined her family at Calcutta,and the Bengal government extracted Rs 7312 from her.Rescue came to her in the form of Commodore Matthews.In November 1721,the English East India Company,with the Portuguese,planned a joint operation against Kanhoji Angre and to seize from him,the island and Fort of Colaba.For this, a Squadron of the Royal Navy was brought in under the command of Matthews,and thereafter,no non military Company servants led military expeditions.The campaign,from the Portuguese side was led by Viceroy at Goa,Don Antonio De Castro.There was no co ordination between the Viceroy and Matthews.The 25000 strong Maratha force sent by King Shahu to assist Angria,defeated the joint force.In the night of the defeat, an angry Matthews thrust his cane into the mouth of the General of the North of the Portuguese,and treated the Viceroy in the same manner,forcing them to ditch the English,and seek peace with the Marathas.                                                                                        
So,with no military job left,Matthews challenged the Company,with his private trade.
When  Matthews reached Hooghly in September,1722,Catherine met him.He told the Bengal Council that Catherine was under the protection of the Throne.When the Company attached the brigantine,Thomas,Matthews produced papers showing,he had bought Catherine's shares in it much before the attachment.Matthews took Catherine to Bombay,put her in the ship,Lyon,lest the Company would arrest her.In 1723,she began living with him.The Company claimed she owed 9000 pounds.At the end of the year,Matthews visited Thalassery and Anchthengu,probing her claims,and in July 1724,Lyon reached Portsmouth,carrying Catherine.The Company ignored her for some time,concentrating on Matthews.When the Company moved against her after two years,she claimed 10,000 pounds from the Company as the amount spent for the presents,Gyfford had taken to the Attingal palace,on the fateful day of 14 April,1721.
Her cases continued,including one with her Agent at Anchthengu,Lapthorne.
She definitely deserves a bust,if not a monument,at Anchthengu!Unfortunately,no image of her is available.
Reference:
1.The Pirates of Malabar and an English Woman in India/John Biddulph
2.A New Account of the East Indies/Alexander Hamilton 
3.The Pirate and the Colonial Project:Kanhoji Angria/Derek L Elliot 
4.The Land of the Perumals /Francis Day

See my Post,MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH AT ATTINGAL

 

A BRITISH HISTORIAN FROM KERALA

Robert Orme was an authority on India

 Robert Orme was a historian admired in his time,inspiring Thomas Macaulay,Walter Scott and William Makepeace Thackeray and the like,but later displaced by historians from James Mill onwards.His work,History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from 1745,laid the foundation for all the future history works on India.For a person like me, born and brought up in the Southern state of India,Kerala,it was exciting to learn that he was born in Kerala,at Anchuthengu or Anjengo.He was born on  Christmas day,in 1728,as the second son of the Chief of the English East India Company Factory there,Dr Alexander Orme,and Lady Gill.Alexander had replaced the notorious Chief,William Gyfford,who was killed by the Attingal Pillai Brigade along with 132 Britishers,in 1721,on the premises of the Attingal palace,and the corrupt Midford,who followed,Gyfford.

Dr Alexander was a surgeon in the service of the Company,at Anchuthengu Factory,in 1707,later Chief,and the brother in law of the Chief of the Company's Thalassery Factory,Robert Adams.Robert Orme was there at Anchuthengu,only for two years,after which he was sent to London,only to come back to India in later years.

Robert was sent to his aunt,Mrs Robert Adams,when he was two, and he studied at Harrow School during 1734-1741,under Dr James Cox.He spent a year at the Accountant General's office of the Royal African Company,before joining the mercantile house of Jackson and Wedderburn at Calcutta in 1742 and entering the East India Company's service as a Writer,in 1743.His elder brother,William was  already a Writer at the Company's Calcutta office.Robert Orme gained a deep knowledge in Indian customs.
 When he reached India,he was a minor of 14,and found deeply involved in a family dispute.Captain Simon Lloyd,Orme's sister's husband,and representative of the Company, died in India in 1746.Mrs Lloyd had gone back to England by then.The will of Captain Lloyd bequeathed equal shares of his estate to his wife and daughter,leaving nothing to his young son,who was left behind in India.Orme,though minor,was the boy's local guardian,and fought the claims of his nephew,even bribing the Mayor of Calcutta,Captain Massey,and involving Jackson of Jackson and Wedderburn.Finally,Mrs Lloyd charged Orme,for misappropriating her money,and he admitted taking 5% as commission.

He considered Indians generally and Bengali's specially,effeminate, and attributed the climatic conditions for the character.In the 1761 article,The Effeminacy of the Inhabitants of Indostan,he wrote:Breathing in the softness of the climates,having few real wants;and receiving even the luxuries of other nations with little labor,from the fertility of their own soil,the Indian must become the most effeminate inhabitant of the globe,and this is the very point at which we now see him.

Robert Orme

Robert Orme left for London in 1753,but even before he set foot in his native soil,he was appointed member of the Council of Fort St George at Madras,during 1754-1758.During that period,he took part in the Council deliberations on the Carnatic operations,and was instrumental in sending the Young Robert Clive,as Head of punitive expedition,against Siraj-ud-Dowlah,in 1757,to Calcutta,on the aftermath of the infamous Black Hole incident of Calcutta in 1756.The Black Hole was a small dungeon in the Old Fort William at Calcutta,where the troops of the Nawab of Bengal,Siraj-ud-Dowlah,is said to have held British prisoners of war,after the capture of the Fort on 20 June,1756.One of the prisoners,John Zephaniah Holwell claimed that,after the fall of the Fort,British and Anglo-Indian soldiers and civilians were held over night under cramped conditions,that 123 out of 146 died from suffocation.Though,Holwell's claim was believed to be true then,now it is termed,Holwell's Hoax.
In Madras,he was appointed as Export Ware House Keeper and Commissioner for the Nawab's account.An anecdote told of Orme of this period,is recorded in A Vindication of General Richard Smith,published in 1783:
When Mr Orme held the office of Export ware House Keeper to the East India Company at Madras,he was remarkable for keeping the young men in the service at a distance.It happened that one Mr Davison acted under him in his office,in whose blunt John Bull manners there appeared something odd and diverting.The former had condescended to invite the latter to breakfast with him,in the course of which he asked Mr Davison,of what profession his father was."A Sadler Sir",replied the other."A Sadler!",repeated the Historian with some degree of surprise;"Why he did not breed you up a Sadler?","Why Sir,"says Davison,"I was always a whimsical boy,and rather chose to try my fortune as you have done in the East India Company's service."But pray Sir", continued he,"What profession was your father of?"."My father Sir",Mr Orme answered sharply,"was a gentleman"."A gentleman!-humph-Pray Sir,be as good to inform me why he did not breed you up a gentleman?".

Black Hole site

Robert Orme's long term friendship with Clive broke off about 1769,for unknown reasons.

He was the Accountant General during 1757-58,made a small fortune and returned to England in 1759.The ship,Grantham,in which he sailed,was captured by the French on January 1,1759 and taken to Mauritius.He reached Nantes,France a year later.He bought a house in Harley Street,London,spent  his time writing.History of the Military Transactions was published in three volumes in 1763-78 and,Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire,the Morattoes and English Concerns in Industan from 1659,was published in 1782.From 1769,till his death,he was the paid Historiographer of the East India Company.It was on the strength of his Military History,he was appointed the Historiographer,and the military encounters of the British came through the writings of Robert Orme.It formed the foundation for many other works on India.Walter Scott had read the book in his youth and he relied heavily upon Robert for his novels,including,The Surgeon's Daughter,based in India.The Newcomes of Thackeray,invokes Orme frequently.

Fort William

While in India,Orme fulfilled the role of the Antiquarian,collecting documents and private correspondence,that upon his death,his collection consisted of 51 volumes of printed matter and 231 volumes of manuscripts.

Orme was familiar with the machinations,intrigues and corruption that infected policy making in India.He deliberately chose to write military history than political.Orme's History opens with a description of Indian society in what he thinks that Hindus,have from time immemorial been as addicted to commerce,as they are averse to war.They have,therefore,always been immensely rich and have always remained incapable of defending their wealth.

I have deliberately quoted this line,for the benefit of the politicians and others,who shout India is a poor country.If you doubt again,you should read Jeffrey Mo0rehouse'  India Britannica,to understand,India was 15 times richer than Britain,at the end of world war II.Who on earth wants to colonize a poor,devastated country?

Orme criticizes the lack of military order and discipline in India.I quote:The rudeness of the military art in Industan can scarcely be imagined but by those who have seen it.The infantry consists in a multitude of people assembled together without regard to rank and file.Some with swords and targets,who can never stand the shock of a body of a horse:some bearing matchlocks,which in he best of order can produce but a very uncertain fire:some armed with lances too long or too weak to be of any service even if ranged with the utmost regularity of discipline.

Macaulay said:Orme,inferior to no English historian in style and power of painting,is minute even to tediouness.In one volume he allots,on an average a closely printed quarto page to the events of every forty eight hours.The consequence in that his narrative,though one of the most authentic and one of the finely written in our language,has never been very popular,and is now scarcely ever read. 

Few passages in Macaulay's own,Essay on Clive,are borrowed from Orme.

Even his close friends didn't know Orme was married-it came to light only when the Company decided to give an annuity to his widow.He died in Great Ealing, Middlesex,where he had shifted after disposing off the house in Harley Street,on 13 January,1801.

Note:

Some of the Chiefs at Anchuthengu:

Thomas Mitchell 1685

John Brabourne 1685,1707

Simon Cowse 1707-1712

John Kyffin 1712-1717

William Gyfford 1717-1721

Midford 1721-1723

Dr Alexander Orme 1723

J Whitehall 1759-1769

P E Wrench 1769-1772

James Forbes 1772

Reference:

Romantic Representation of British India/Ed.Michael J Franklin
2.Vestiges of Old Madras,Vol 1/H O Love

See my Post,MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH AT ATTINGAL,1721

THREE MALABAR PIRATES IN TRAVANCORE

 Arakkal Brothers as Naval Chiefs in Travancore

 This is the story of a Kolathiri prince of Kannur in Northern Kerala becoming King in Travancore,and he in turn,appointing two brothers from the Naval family of Arakkal in Kannur, as Naval Chiefs of Travancore- the first team to protect the waters of Travancore,much before Eustachius De Lannoy and Chempil Arayan.

The King was Adithya Varma,and the brothers,Mammali Kidavu and Kunjikoyamu.

Adithya Varma was adopted from the Kolathunad,along with his brother Rama Varma and two sisters, to the Attingal royal family,before the reigning King,Kottayam Kerala Varma,also from Kolathunad,was assassinated on 28,August,1696.Adithya Varma did the obsequies of Kerala Varma.

It was the time when Umayamma Rani of Attingal was ruling the Travancore Kingdom,though,Ravi Varma had taken over the elder's position(and so,the King) in 1685 itself.He was very weak,leading a sanyasin's life,till his death in 1704.Ravi Varma is considered by some as the son of Umayamma Rani.When Umayamma Rani died in July,1698,the Junior Rani,Pururuttathi Thirunal from Kolathu Nadu became the Queen of Attingal,since the elder sister had died within a year of the adoption.Marthanda Varma,is believed to be the her son.The attempt to make Adithya Varma or Rama Varma,the King ,was torpedoed by King of Nedumangad,Kerala Varma and some of the barons.The powerful Pillai barons,when the ship,Neptune,of East India Company wrecked in Manakkudi,near Kanyakumari,looted the entire cargo though the agreement between the Company and the Rani stipulated equal share of the cargo,in the event of a ship wreck.

Manakkudi

When Ravi Varma died in 1704,the attempt of Adithya Varma to become the King was again thwarted by the barons,who anointed Nedumangad Kerala Varma as the King in February,1805.Though,Adithya Varma approached,the King of Karunagappaly,he was not in a position to help,because he had become an ally of the Kayamkulam King,who in turn,was an ally of the Dutch.But political pressures made the Karunagappaly King to return to his old position, and he adopted he Junior Rani and her son,Marthanda Varma from Attingal to Karunagapally.The Karunagappally King died in September,1707 and the Junior Rani,Pururuttathi Thirunal,became the Regent,making her brother,Adithya Varma,powerful.Since his family had close relationship with the Muslim Kingdom of Arakkal,he invited Mammali Kidavu and Kunjikoyamu in an effort to protect the commercial interests in the Travancore coast,and to post them,he established a Naval facility at Kadiapattanam,in Kanyakumari.

Kadiapattanam

While the Arakkal brothers were busy organizing a naval force,Nedumangad Kerala Varma died and his successor declared himself King of Travancore.The Naicker of Madurai accepted him and the barons,with the support of Madurai Force,ousted Adithya Varma from Kalkulam.As a result,Mammali and Kunjikoyamu lost the Naval Chiefs post and they became pirates.Though the ships which had a Dutch pass,were not required to pay the tax,the brothers,seized ships from Kayamkulam and Purakkad,for not paying taxes.Adithya Varma became helpless,and the traders at Purakkad and Kayamkulam,who were furious that the Dutch pass is not valid in Travancore,snapped ties with Travancore and approached the British.Smelling trouble,the barons declared loyalty to Adithya Varma,promising money to pay the arrears of tribute to Madurai,and on their demand,Adihya Varma banished Mammali and Kunjikoyamu from Travancore,in 1708.They were captured by the Dutch at Cochin in December,but they managed to escape soon,with the help of the English,who gave residence to the brothers,at Anchuthengu Factory.

 

Thengapattanam

We see Mammali and Mani Kurukkal,not Kunjikoyamu,next, in 1714,three years after their one time mentor, Adithya Varma ascending the throne,after the death of Nedumangad King.The English,with  Varma's permission,shifted Mammali and Kurukkal to Thengapattanam.They looted ships and levied extra tax from ships carrying Dutch pass,and once,dared to loot the ship of the King.They disappear from history at this point.Varma died in 1721.

The Dutch priest,Jacobus Cantervisscher,in his Letters from Malabar,has recorded that the English had encouraged Muslim pirates to loot Dutch ships.

Reference:

1.Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair

2.Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore/Mark De Lannoy
3.Letters from Malabar/Cantervisscher

See my Post,ARAKKAL ALI RAJA'S ATTACK OF MALDIVES

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