RAJARSHI RAMA VARMA: THE UNTOLD STORY

A strained relationship between the British and own Royal House

When he was fed up with the actions of some British officers, Sir Sri Rama Varma XV, the Cochin King, went to the Ayyanthole Karthyayani Temple at Thrissur. Seeing the bell hung over the temple dome outside the Sanctum was very small, he decided to offer a big one and called a bronze smith, and gave instructions, to get the sound right.

Ringing the bell in a Hindu temple, is a knock at the entrance of the God, asking permission to enter. It has a twang to create the required sound. A temple bell is a symbol of antarala, the space between the sky and earth. In Sathapatha Brahmana, it is mentioned that evil should be driven out by invoking good-quality sound.

The new big bell was offered by the King and was hung. When he pulled the twang, he suddenly felt a disturbing tone, of discordant notes. The saddened King said: It is a hint by the Goddess, of the fading voice of the King. If it is the will of the Almighty, let it be so.

He wrote to the British Resident, James Andrew, that he was abdicating the throne, in August 1905, just a month after the verdict in the sensational trial of Kuriyedathu Thatri, a Nambudiri Woman, who spelt out 65 names of the males she slept with. This trial of chastity created a furore in the State since the males were very powerful and from the higher castes. Here is the King's view of the trial, from his Reminiscences:

Early in 1905, I had to engage myself in another sensational social question. A Nambudiri woman was suspected of leading an immoral life. According to customary law, a social tribunal is appointed by the Raja to enquire into the misdemeanours of Nambudiri ladies. The tribunal examines the lady in a Smarthavicharam and if she confesses her lapses before the tribunal she and the men mentioned by her as being involved are excommunicated by the Raja. The men were not told what their offence was nor were they given a chance to clear themselves from the one-sided accusation of the woman of ill fame.

This curious system, though it offended against the elementary canons of jurisprudence, has the sanction of established usage from time out of mind and was one of the bulwarks of the Nambudiri social system very jealously preserved by that community.

Rajarshi Rama Varma

In the case which cropped up in 1905 a large number of persons belonging to several communities were implicated by the woman in the Smarthavicharam.The injustice of condemning this motley group without giving the men concerned an opportunity to refute the allegations of the woman was realized by me. In consultation with Sir V Bashyam Iyengar, I framed certain rules for the conduct of Smarthavicharam. The persons alleged by the fallen woman to have had illicit intimacy with her were furnished with copies of her allegations and they were called upon to show cause why they should not be dealt with according to the customary law. They were allowed to cross-examine the woman and to adduce evidence. All persons denied having had anything to do with the woman. But they could not refute the charges. Some of them engaged counsel and wanted to import the procedure of law courts. This I could not permit, as legal subtleties were out of place in the enquiry which was a quasi-religious one and related only to questions of fact. Any violent breach from the past was bound to evoke strong opposition from the conservative Hindus whose sentiments had to be respected.

Sixty-four persons were involved in the enquiry and all of them were excommunicated. This evoked strong resentment among the educated section of the people. I had anticipated this. But I was not for superimposing any violent changes on society when they were repugnant to the feelings of most conservative people.

P Rajagopalachari

I have quoted at length, because this incident juxtaposed conservatism against modernism, and conservatism won, and the King was on the part of the conservatives. He was always on the part of conservatism, if we look at his role in excommunicating K Ravunni Menon of Villadam, Thrissur, for going to study in England and entering into a sambandham with a Nair woman on his return. I am not going into details, but it is sufficient to say that his strong stance in such matters was the cause of the rift between him and his younger brother, who died as heir apparent. Members of the Tripunithura royal family say that the King was against Kurur Unni Nambudiripad, a friend of his brother, who had eschewed Congress ideals. Kurur was a cousin of Parkutty Nethyaramma, wife of Rama Varma XVI, who succeeded the King. Her daughter Ratnam had married Ramunni Menon Palat(R M Palat), son of Sir C Sankaran Nair, who studied at Oxford and became a Minister in the Madras Government.

Fight with the new generation Residents

John Rees

P Rajagopalachari was the Dewan from December 1896, and N Pattabhi Rama Rao succeeded him, in September 1902, and was there till 1907. The King's problems seem to have aggravated a few months before, Thatri's trial, in December 1904, when James  Andrew, who was Collector, Thanjavur, succeeded Gordon Thomson Mackenzie, as Resident. Two well-furnished bungalows, one at Thrissur and one at Cochin were at his disposal and was accorded other facilities regarding supply of boats and provisions. When Dewan Rao wanted a change in this, the King asked him to wait, till the Resident's visit. During Andews' first visit to the King in December, a hitch occurred, and he complained to the King. Though the Dewan met the Resident on the order of the King to settle the issue, Andrew lectured the Dewan on the curtsies due to him. Soon the Government of India ordered that the Residents should not accept from the Durbars any privileges such as rent-free houses or conveyances. The government wanted the Bolghatty Residency either for purchase or on a long lease. The lease at Rs 6000 per annum was fixed, and the deed was executed in 1909.

R M Palat

The King went to Kodaikanal in 1904, and the King of Pudukotta was there. The King liked a house, Haddon House, which was up for sale; the King wished to buy it from his private funds. He had known, in connection with the purchase of the Tulloch's Garden for the Darbar, that the government didn't look with favour, the acquisition by ruling Chiefs of landed property in British India. The King thought that purchasing a small house from his private funds would not be objected to. But the Government rejected his wish. A King in British India was a mere slave. When the King wanted an extension of the Dewan Rajagoplachari, in 1901, he demanded a salary of Rs 1650, but the Government objected to it. 

F A Nicholson

In  1905, the King ordered the seizure of Rs 50 per month for six months from the pay of Dr Coombes, the Chief Medical Officer, Thrissur, for failing to properly treat a convict of the Central Jail, who was mortally wounded by a warder. While the convict needed treatment, Dr Coombes directed shifting him to the Mental Hospital, Thrissur, and he died. The allegation was that this was done to help the assailant- no statement was available from the convict. The King ordered an enquiry by Narayana Marar, Puisne Judge of the Chief Court, and based on his report, Robinson, Superintendent of the Jail, was removed, and Coombes punished.

Before the arrival of Andrew, the King had fought with the Resident Gordon Mackenzie, over two tusks seized in Cochin, after his claim that the tusks belonged to Travancore. It is a different story. At that time, the Resident was common to Travancore and Cochin. The Residents in the tumultuous period were James Thompson, John David Rees, F A Nicholson, Gordon Thomson Mackenzie and James Andrew. Rees, the King feels, torpedoed all reforms and often went to the Government Press, carrying tales to the Governor of Madras, Sir Arthur Havelock (1896-1900), against  Dewan, Rajagopalachari, and his reports were leaked by the Governor's private secretary to the King and Rajagopalachari.

Rama Varma(?), Mackenzie, Sri Mulam Thirunal and Augusta Mary Blandford

The King sank deep into a persecution complex. He made the proposal to abdicate, in August. He writes: I found a determined attempt everywhere to thwart me. I bore it up, as being incidental to my position as Ruler, as long as I could. But my troubles instead of diminishing, only increased.

Rees caricature/Leslie ward

The attitude of Resident Andrew became more and more formal and the King failed to get the degree of consideration and sympathy he used to get from Thompson and Nicholson. The Residents were disposed to be more critical than helpful. The King says the general level of people selected for the office of the Resident was not high, enough to be of any substantial help to the King in solving the many intricate problems. The King records: Thus, neither Mr Mackenzie nor his successor Mr Andrew could help us in formulating the settlement proposals (the Government had sent the draft of the proclamation for the Settlement of Land Revenue to the Resident, towards the close of 1904).

The King goes on record: Both (Governor) Lord Ampthill and Sir James Thompson were my best friends. But both of them were to quit India shortly for good. I was not quite sure of getting any substantial help in the conduct of the administration from their successors and was afraid of my experience with the Resident repeating itself in the Madras Government.

The King is off tangent when he opines that, the general level of the Residents was not high; at his time, people who had been in the ICS were sent as Residents. For instance, John Rees(1854-1922) was not a mediocre person, as the King had made him out to be. He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1875, was Under Secretary, Madras and member of the Governor's Council in the 1890s. He was Resident of Travancore and Cochin thrice,1895 April-July,1896 August-December and 1897 July-1898 August. He was a great supporter of the Raj, retired in 1901 and was MP for two terms in Britain, from 1906-1910(Montgomery)and 1912-1922(Nottingham). He married Mary Catherine Dorner, who was a Correspondent of George Orwell, and their daughter, Rose Mary, was an aviator. Rees was a reputed author on India, and his books include, Tours in India, The Mohammedans, The Real India and Modern India.

Bhashyam Iyengar

James Thompson, the King's friend, entered ICS in 1869, was Collector in Madras during 1889-1895 and was made Resident of Travancore and Cochin in 1895. He was Resident for only a year, from 1895 July to 1896 August, in the first year of the King. Thompson was elected to the Madras Legislative Council in 1898 and was Governor during 1904 April-December.

The Tramway Scuffle

For the King, even within the State, things were in disarray. Several officers made a sustained effort to discredit the administration. They ridiculed Dewan Pattabhi Rama Rao and did not promptly carry out his orders. Intrigues were common. Two officers, Alwar Chetty and Haffield were the worst sinners in disobedience to the Dewan, and they were asked by the King to mend their ways. In 1899, V Alwar Chetty from Madras was made Conservator of Forests, in place of Kohloff, and an Engineer, Haffield was selected for construction work, especially, the Parambikulam tramwa y. Hatfield and  Chetty quarrelled over the tramway work and both adopted a recalcitrant attitude towards the Dewan. Haffield lost his enthusiasm for pushing on with the tramway and Chetty planned to get rid of him. Haffield applied for leave off and on and asked for a pay hike. Chetty appointed Pereira as an Engineer to assist Haffield without consulting him. Hatfield left the State service on 20 September 1905. Lord Ampthill had agreed to open the Cochin Forest Tramway on 3 October!

Cochin Forest Tramway

The King observes: My caution and reluctance to force social reforms on an unwilling public were severely criticized by the fire eaters. The line of action pursued by me in Professor Ramunni Menon's case and the Smarthavicharam case was not to the liking of the English-educated people. Not satisfied with criticizing me for my decision, they were uncharitable to impute motives to me. With all their rationalistic view of things, they could not appreciate the difficulties of the ruler.

At the family front too, there was rebellion. The Civil List was not a fixed item. As the family began to increase rapidly, he thought that some check should be imposed on the allotment of funds from general use for the use of the family in justice to the taxpayers whose interests he was bound to protect. This necessitated retrenchment in various facilities in the palaces. Many of the princes and especially the ladies, were up in arms when the King tried to impose some supervision on them.

The King concludes: Finding myself in this situation, I thought I had better retire from the field to give place to those who could carry on better...I thought it my duty to do the work of administration properly and as I found many hindrances in my way to thwart my work, I had no other alternative, but to retire. I was not enamoured of the pomp and circumstances of my position. If I was not in a position to fulfil my function as a ruler, I had no business to stick to it. 

The king was a prisoner of his Orthodoxism, moulding himself on Sanskrit edicts, trying to be a textbook King. Everyone in the royal family was afraid of him, and fear is not a democratic trait. He has yet to mention selling off the 14 caparisons of Poornathrayeesa Temple at all, by him, to raise funds for the Shornur railway line. The royal family members always felt that it was bad financial management.

After abdication in December 1914, he attended a Chakyar Koothu performance. While describing the moment when Sri Rama left Sita, taking into account the public perception, the Chakyar looked at the former King and asked: Ozhinjatho, Ozhippichatho? abdicated,or removed?

From then on people began to refer to him, as His Abdicated Highness.  

   

Reference:

The Reminiscences and Continuation of the Events till 1915/Rama Varma
Note: The caricature of Rees appeared in Vanity Fair, in February 1907.

© Ramachandran

See my Post, TWO GERMAN CRUISERS AND ABDICATION OF  COCHIN KING

CHAOS:AN INVALID KING RULED FOR 24 YEARS

Corruption and Nepotism was Order of the Day

It is when we go through the life story of the abdicated King of Cochin,Rajarshi Rama Varma,we come across his fight with an invalid King,Mithuna Masathil Theepetta Thampuran(The King who died in the month of Mithunam),Rama Varma XIV,who ruled the Kingdom,during 1864-1888.The King(1835-1888),a pawn in the hands of the Dewan and a courtier,called the Cheruvathur Nambudiri,entertained wild allegations of the coterie against Rajarshi Rama Varma,his younger brother,Kerala Varma and his cousin,the first prince Kerala Varma,and made their life,hell.This cousin was the son of King's own brother.

The King was the son of Manku Thampuran and the nephew of the former King,Ravi Varma(1853-1864).He was the brother of Kunjipilla Thampuran,Kavamma Thampuran,and Maharaja Kerala Varma,Chinga Masathil Theepetta Thampuran(1888-1895).Since he was invalid through out his reign,his Dewan T (Thottakkat)Sankunni Menon,son of former Dewan,Edakunni Sankara Warrier(1840-1857)and Kizhake Thottakat Ammini Amma,virtually reigned and when the Dewan retired on 22 August 1879,due to ill health,his brother,Govinda Menon,succeeded.

 Rama Varma XIV

Records show that Rajarshi took no hand in public affairs,during the reign of Rama Varma XIV.The King had been a confirmed invalid,easy going,shrewd but averse to all intellectual and physical effort,and always anxious to take the line of least resistance in political and administrative matters.He was assisted by loyal and able Dewan Sankunni Menon,who had been Deputy Collector of Tirunelveli before he was appointed Dewan.The King gave him a free hand,and he was not altogether free from all taint of self-seeking and nepotism;but if he looked after his interests,it was without detriment to the welfare of the State.The King's brother,Vira Kerala Varma,often advised the King not to surrender his individuality,so completely as to be wholly led by the Dewan,but the King resented such advice.On one occasion,when the Elaya Raja tendered such advice,the King's reply was immediate and incontrovertible.The King told his brother,that being conscious of his own limitations-physical and intellectual-he had to use his judgement in selecting an efficient ,honest and loyal Dewan,and having done that, the only proper and wise thing to do was leave him alone to do his duty and not meddle with his discretion at every stage.

Dewan Sankunni Menon

Sankunny Menon's successor,Govinda Menon,retired from Madras service,though loyal,was far less efficient  and results of the King's weakness very soon became obvious,especially after,Sankunny Menon's death.The King's timidity was taken advantage of by his courtiers ,the most prominent and unscrupulous among whom was, Cheruvathur Nambudiri.Being invalid,the King was dependent on Cheruvathur,even for domestic ministrations,for the King had to be bathed and clothed by him,and in due course,Cheruvathur made himself indispensable to the King and began to wield immense influence which he exploited to his own selfish ends.Even the Elaya Raja,the King's own brother,was denied  easy access to the King,and the entire royal family became highly critical of the King and the administration.Corruption in the King's Court and in the public services,became order of the day,and the British Resident failed to intervene.There was very little contact between the King who could not speak English and the Resident.The King had permanently commissioned the Dewan to transact all business with the Resident on his behalf ,and even when courtesy calls by the Resident were proposed,the King would plead indisposition.But when a visit became unavoidable,the King would go to his favorite room in the southern wing of the palace whence the golden crown of the temple of the family Deity is visible and stand in devout prayer for some time,so that the Resident's visit might pass off without any mishap.In public functions,Crown Prince,Vira Kerala Varma represented the King,and he was knighted by the British,before he became King.

Rajarshi

Rajarshi and the Elaya Raja Vira Kerala Varma, the King's younger brothers, were very deeply attached to each other,and the King disliked them because of their definite and open disapproval of his policies.The King some times annoyed and bullied Rajarshi,who in spite of his deep respect and love for his cousin,was driven to the extremity of retaliation.The cause of vexation was most of the time trivial,and there was little harmony in the relations between the King and Rajarshi ,and during the comparatively long period of the reign,neither the Rajarshi or his brother had any opportunity of being in any way associated with the ruler in any of his activities,public or private.

Dewan Govinda Menon

The corrupt and sycophant courtiers who disliked and dreaded the Rajarshi were eternally active in their search for discord.Rajarshi's brother published anonymous reports and letters against Cheruvathur in news papers to no avail.When Rajarshi became a paramour to the married 16 year old daughter of the Elaya Raja's wife,in her first husband,Cheruvathur and Company spread the story that the affair was not out of love,but out of selfishness,because she being the daughter of the heir apparent.Rajarshi wrote to Dewan Govinda Menon,on 11 April,1886:

Cheruvathur and some of his comrades were for some time back trying to annoy me in various ways,especially by spreading bad reports about me,and my royal cousin-unfortunately for me-seemed to connive at their attempts;but as you know I took very little notice of it though His Highness's taking sides with them was really unpleasant to me...I shall wait and see if you can render me satisfaction by warning His Highness of the grave consequences of such folly;and if I fail,I tell you before hand that I shall myself take measures to annoy my offenders up to the last.

Rama Varma XVI

The King's dislike of Rajarshi and his cousin was aggravated by such letters of retaliation and Rajarshi's occasional visits to the palace afforded the King fresh chances for accusation. 
A letter to the British Resident by Rajarshi,after he became King,is proof to the rampant corruption in the system.When Simon,Head of the Police retired,Rajarshi appointed Davis,at the recommendation of the Resident.After a year,Rajarshi wrote: With the old Mr Simon as the Superintendent of Police,there was only one corrupt man in the whole force;with Mr Davis as the Head,there is only one man in the whole Police force who is not corrupt! 

There is not much contribution attributed to the King Rama Varma XVI,except he built Puthen Malika and Mani Malika(Clock Tower)in Tripunithura.He visited Madras in 1876 to meet the Prince of Wales,and was the first Cochin King to be knighted.

The King died in August,1888.With the accession of Vira Kerala Varma ,Cheruvathur Nambudiri,Chief of the corrupt courtiers,went into self exile.Though he could not be proved guilty of misappropriation of palace funds,he had to retire with a heavy cloud of suspicion.Govinda Menon retired in 1889.

Equally inefficient was the King,Madrasil Theepetta Thampuran(The King who died in Madras),Rama Varma XVI,who succeeded Rajarshi Rama Varma in 1914.He was known as Rama Varma Kunjikidavu Thampuran(1858 October 6-1932 March 27),born to Pana Nambudiripad and Kavamma Thampuran.He was the brother of King Ravi Varma Kunjappan Thampuran( Midukkan Thampuran,1941-1943),King Ravi Varma Kunjappan Thampuran(1943-1946),Kunjipilla,Kunjikavu,Kerala Varma Kelappan Thampuran and three others.

He was interested in curing snake bites and comprehending the language of the lizards.He was paralytic after a stroke,undergoing ayurvedic treatment constantly at Ollur or Shornur,leaving administration to his able wife,Thrissur Vadakke Kurupath Parukutty Nethyaramma.He gave the permission to build the largest Church in India,Basilica of Our Lady of Dolorous,in Thrissur.

Reference:

1.The Rajarshi of Cochin/Ed by I K K Menon

2.Cochin State Manual/C Achyutha Menon

See my Post,PARUKUTTY NETHYARAMMA RULED COCHIN

TWO GERMAN CRUISERS AND ABDICATION OF THE COCHIN KING

Oh, It was not Emden, after all!

A King of Cochin, in Southern India, was known as, Vazhcha Ozhinja Thampuran, or, Ozhinja Valiya Thampuran in Malayalam language, meaning, His abdicated Highness. The incident in 1914, created a furore and it shocked his subjects, because, clinging to power by all means was the practice, and abdication was unheard of in the Kingdom. The rumour spread that the abdication was not a normal act and that he was forced to do it after he gave a garden party to the officers of a German cruiser. Still, I find takers for this theory. I too had believed in the theory, and had thought that the cruiser may have been, SMS Emden, which bombarded Madras on the night of September 22,1914.

SMS Emden

Many still believe, the second in command of Emden, Chempaka Raman Pillai, of Thiruvananthapuram, had rowed Emden ashore at Cochin, to see his friends and family members. The fact remains that the Malayalam word, Emandan (huge) originated from Emden, taking the cruiser to the state's legends. Though Emden never came to Cochin, it has a small connection with Cochin, as a diary entry of Georgina Lee, shows in the book, Home Fires Burning: The Great War Diaries, by Gavin Roynon:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22

The German cruiser Emden which has been at large ever since the war, doing much damage in the Indian Ocean, including the shelling of Madras where she destroyed the oil tanks, has sunk five more British Steamers, three of them being liners. The Emden transferred the crews and passengers to the Steamer, Egbert and sent them to the nearest port, Cochin, near Madras.

So, Egbert came, not Emden.Georgina Lee was a normal homemaker, who began making diary entries, addressed to her nine-month-old son, Harry, when the First World War broke out after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo, on June 28,1914. Georgina depended on newspaper stories. I too searched old newspaper reports, and here is a report dated October 24,1914, in Hawera and Normanby Star, page 5:

The Bombay steamer, Egbert has arrived at Cochin with 325 members of the crew and 22 passengers of seven steamers, sunk by the Emden between the 15th and 19th.

Rajarshi Rama Varma

The guns of Emden, Captained by Karl von Muller, bombarded the oil tanks of Burma Oil Company on the illuminated port of Madras at 9.30 PM, and then sank a merchant ship, killing five and injuring 28.125 shells were fired in 30 rounds, and it lasted for half an hour. It was a surprise attack and the British lost their morale. Raman Pillai was an engineer, assisting Muller. Later he became Prime Minister of the Indian provincial government based in Afghanistan, and he was poisoned to death by the Nazis, in 1934.

Chempaka Raman Pillai

Emden was named after the city of that name and was launched from the dockyard of Danzig, in 1909. It had 10 guns and two torpedo tubes. It was part of Germany's East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, China, and Muller became its Commander in 1913. He detached it for independent raids in the Indian Ocean. It was quiet in the Chinese and Japanese waters in the first half of 1914, and when Ferdinand was assassinated, it was the only German cruiser in Tsingtao. Germany declared war on Russia, on 2 August, and Emden captured the Russian Steamer, Ryazan, and converted it to, an auxiliary cruiser, Cormoran. Then it steamed up the coast of Sumatra, to the Indian Ocean, entered the Bay of Bengal, on 5 September, and moved to the Colombo-Calcutta route, on September 10. Muller decided to bombard Madras in late September. After the bombardment, Emden forayed to the western side of Ceylon, and I got relieved only after reading this line because I was born in Cochin! It captured a British Steamer, off Minikoy, on October 15.

Oil Tanks Burnt by Emden/Madras, 1914

So, King Rama Varma XV, who reigned from 1895 to 1914, had nothing to do with, Emden, or any German officer in 1914. Then why he abdicated? Was he connected with any German delegation at all, at any point in time?

Yes.

Records show he gave a garden party to the officers of the German cruiser, SMS Gneisenau, in 1911. So, it was three years before and has nothing to do with abdication.

Gneisenau was an armoured Cruiser of the German Navy, part of the two-ship Scharnhorst Class. It was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian General of the Napoleonic wars. It was launched from the Bremen dockyard in June 1906, and completed in March 1908 at the cost of 19 million gold marks. Franz von Hipper was the first Commander for a few months. It had eight guns. Like Emden, it was also assigned to the East Asia Squadron, at Tsingtao, with the Flagship, Scharnhorst, in 1910 and served as the core of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee's fleet. At the outbreak of the First World War, the two ships, accompanied by three light cruisers and several colliers, sailed across the Pacific Ocean, before arriving off the Southern coast of South America. It encountered and overpowered the British Squadron at the Battle of Coronel, on 1 November 1914. The stinging defeat prompted the British admiralty to detach two battle cruisers to hunt down and destroy von Spee's flotilla, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falklands Islands on 8 December 1914-Gneisenau sank. It had won the Kaiser's Cup four times, twice in Asia, in 1911 and 1914.

SMS Gneisenau

Hosting a garden party at Hill Palace, Tripunithura, for German officers of the cruiser, in a British dominion, was definitely not an innocent act, you may think. It was not a political act-the occasion was the visit of the German Crown prince, Wilhem and his wife Duchess Cecilie, to India, in December-January,1911. Wilhelm was the Guest of Honor at the Viceregal Lodge, when the escort ship, Gneisenau lay at anchor in the Cochin Harbor; with the formal approval of the British Government, the German Consul, Bueler arranged for the King's visit to Gneisenau and the King entertained its officers at a garden Party, and the Dewan gave a Cocktail Party in the night at Bolghatty Residency, with the approval of the Resident. The temporal sequence was ignored and this incident was termed pro-German by his detractors, three years later.

Wilhelm

No records of a British resistance against the King exist, for hosting such a party. If they had taken it as an offence, the King should have been removed, in 1911, not in 1914. Or, he could have been removed in 1902, for using Germans, for building the Parambikulam Tramway. Or he could have been removed in 1907, when a German Baron, Kauffman visited Cochin as the King's guest, spent time hunting in forests, and got a monograph on the King written in German on his return. Instead, his gun salute was raised from 17 to 19, in 1911. There is no point in arguing a power tussle in this case, because, a lot of records exist, to prove that King Rama Varma had revealed his intention to abdicate as early as 1905, but the British insisted on his continuation. In 1914, though the King was advised by his well-wishers to reveal the earlier correspondence, to silence the critics, he said, "When someday the truth comes out, the disappointment of my detractors will be all the greater, but, there is no reason to hasten that end".

The King's letter dated 18 August 1905, from Tripunithura to the Resident, James Andrew, begins thus:

The proposal I am going to make in this letter may appear to you as somewhat strange and ill-considered. But, it is not so. I have spent a good deal of careful thought over the matter, and am making the proposal only after long and mature consideration. I wish to be relieved of my charge of the administration at the end of this Malabar Year. My chief and almost sole reason for deciding on such a course is my desire to have complete rest and peace of mind during the remaining portion of my life.

.......

I, of course, expect an allowance for my maintenance during my retired life. But, knowing as I do, of how heavy a burden the family of Cochin is on the State, and considering that the item of expenditure is altogether new on account of the step I am now proposing, I shall not name the sum of the allowance for me. Whatever sum the Durbar and the Government consider to be a proper amount will be accepted by me with gratitude and thankfulness. It is now my intention to keep up any great position or dignity during my retired life, and it will not, therefore, be difficult for me to live comfortably on a moderate amount. In this connection, I have to make one request for the consideration of the Government. It is this: a portion of my allowance, not less than Rs 100 a month, may be continued after my lifetime to my wife and her children as long as one of them is alive.

........

He was 53 then, and the letter brings out the sage in the King. This was the King, who auctioned off the 14 gold caparisons in the Poornathrayeesa Temple to build the Ernakulam-Shornur railway line, ignoring the criticism inside the royal family. He sold all gold ornaments and borrowed money from the Chidambaram Temple Trust. Though the first train ran in 1902, the effort took a heavy toll on the King.

German Crown Prince in India

P Rajagopalachari, who was the Dewan, when the railway project was begun, was shocked to learn about this letter, and he wrote to the King, requesting him to withdraw it. The Cochin Dewan at the time, N Pattabhirama Rao was also shocked. The Resident forwarded the King's letter to the Governor of Madras, and the Governor, Lord Oliver Russel Ampthill (1900-1906), in his rejection letter of 4 September 1905, said: There is nobody at present who is fit to succeed you as Raja of Cochin and to govern the state without detriment to the interests of the people.

Lord Ampthill sought  Viceroy Lord Curzon's advice and wrote to the King on December 9,1905:Neither this Government nor the Government of India can consent or be a party to your Highness' abdication.

Ampthill

The King again wrote to Resident A T Forbes, on 13 June 1913, saying he was not prepared to extend his public career beyond December, but the British vetoed. The King prevailed, and Dewan J N Bhore issued an extraordinary gazette on 25 November 1914:

"It is the desire of His Highness the Raja to abdicate on the 22nd Vrischikam 1090 (7 December 1914). His Highness would be glad to meet such of his people as many find it possible to be present at the Durbar Hall on that date at 12.50 PM".

But, according to T K Krishna Menon's Memoirs, the King abdicated on 13 July 1914.

After abdication, Rama Varma stayed on at Ernakulam for some months, while his Palace at Thrissur was in the process of construction, and he shifted to Merry Lodge Palace, the present Kerala Varma College, during the summer of 1915, led a sage's life and died on 29 January 1932. The Palace was built for him by his old, loyal friend, T(Thatikonda) Namberumal Chetty, the master builder of Madras and business partner of Dewan Pattabhi Rama Rao.   A statue of him was unveiled in the public park at Ernakulam(Rajendra Maidan), on October 13, 1925, by the Governor of Madras, the 2nd Viscount, Goschen(1924-1929), in the presence of the Political Agent, Cotton. The statue was made by British Sculptor, E G Jillicken, at the cost of 1300 pounds.

The question once again, is why the abdication?

There is a hint in the following lines of I N Menon, Son of the King, who was Director of Public Instruction in Cochin:

My father had hoped to harness the waterfalls at Athirapally and get enough electrical power generated for running not only the indigenous factory and cottage industries but also to attract to State big industrialists from other states and provinces to invest capital in the state;, before any concrete steps could be taken, he laid down the reins of administration in the hope that his Dewan Mr Bhore, with whom he had discussed his plans at great length, would be able to implement them. Unfortunately, Mr Bhore could not get my father's successor to agree to these proposals, and he left Cochin a sadder and wiser man.

Rama Varma XVI

It means, his successor, Rama Varma XVI, known as, Madrasil Theepetta Thampuran(The King who died in Madras), was a roadblock to, Rajarshi Ramavarma. It is evident in the abdicated King's very brief autobiography that the earlier King, Rama Varma XIV(1864-1888), Mithunamasathil Theepetta Thampuran, and a courtier called Cheruvathur Nambudiri, were hands in glove, against him, and his cousin(son of the Raja's elder brother, who died at age 33, in 1880)spreading canards. Rama Varma XIV, was very weak, affected by illness throughout his reign. He built the Puthan Malika and Mani Malika(clock tower)in Tripunithura.In the Palliyil house in Tripunithura, there was a girl who was the stepdaughter (daughter of his wife by an earlier husband) of the late Raja who was then Elaya Raja. This girl was about 16 years old and had a regular husband. Rama Varma(Rajarshi) proposed to become a paramour to her, and as the husband raised no objection, it was done so. Cheruvathur and others spread a story that he did it simply to please the Elaya Raja(Vira  Kerala Varma), but not because he loved her.

He, as heir apparent, wrote to the Dewan against Cheruvathur, on 11 April 1886:

Cheruvathur and some of his(Raja's) comrades were for some time back trying to annoy me in various ways, especially by spreading bad reports about me, and my royal cousin-unfortunately for me-seemed to connive at their attempts; but as you know I took very little notice of it though His Highness's taking sides with them was really unpleasant to me...

Duke Ferdinand

Rama Varma was the son of the third daughter, Amba/Kunjikavu Thampuran of the Senior Rani, and Bhaskaran Nambudiripad. He has recorded that, his brother, Kerala Varma (Kochunni)Thampuran (Born in 1855, he died as heir apparent), began to attempt certain radical changes in social and religious matters which gave rise to severe criticism all over Tripunithura. His mother too, felt some uneasiness at these things. A set of newly English-educated men of State, gained the sympathy of his brother and a few other princes."My brother", Rama Varma writes, "though very intelligent and well educated in Sanskrit, was somewhat hasty in coming to conclusions and acting upon them. He was also very very obstinate....he fell out with me, and ever since, tried to annoy me in several ways. From this time forward we began to pull the ropes in opposite directions, with equal force, and the consequence was that we never became friends again".

This coterie led by his own brother worked against Rama Varma over time, and every decision of his was made controversial, culminating in a palace rebellion, during 1898-1902, when the gold caparisons of Poornathrayeesa Temple were sold and the allowances of the princes were cut to raise funds for the Shornur line.

The date of Rama Varma's first abdication letter is very important. It is August 18,1905, exactly a month after the verdict to excommunicate and banish Kuriyedathu Thatri, in the caste inquisition or trial of chastity(Smartha Vicharam). The majority of the banished were rich, influential and well-connected. It was the last nail in the coffin when the coterie spread the rumour that the trial was stopped when Thatri was about to pronounce the name of Rama Varma. So it was not a cruiser that led to the abdication; it was Thatri, who launched a thousand ships.

Reference:

1. The Rajarshi of Cochin/Ed.I K K Menon

2. Sir Rama Varma Rajarshi/I K K Menon
3. The Story of an Abdication/C Achyutha Menon

© Ramachandran

See my Post, PARIKSHIT THE LAST KING AND THE OTHER PARIKSHIT

 

MGR'S FATHER AND THE CASTE INQUISITION

He left the children to fate and poverty

Iruvar: An Actor, and his Script Writer, with the Mentor in the background

I began seeing the picture of MGR's mother, Satyabhama, somewhere around 1972, when MGR started writing his autobiography, in the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan. Her image and the stories of the family's poverty were an integral part of the pages of the magazine, and,I  never saw an image of his father, Melakkath Gopala Menon. I never expected to see it for two reasons: Menon was ostracized by society, by a caste inquisition. Hence, his first wife's descendants might not be keen to publish it. Secondly, MGR never liked his father's first family. But there is one picture, for posterity.

MGR's Father, Gopala Menon

Palakkad Nallepully Melakath Gopala Menon was a Court official at Thrissur when he was implicated in an adultery case with a Nambudiri widow. I had interviewed a victim of the last caste inquisition(Smartha Vicharam), A M N Chakyar in 1999, and he had told me that Menon was not a victim of the sensational trial of Kuriyedathu Thatri, in 1905, but of the first trial of the century, in 1903. It is described very briefly, in his book, Avasanathe Smartha Vicharam (The Last Caste Inquisition). I quote:

There is an interesting story in circulation, related to the  Kuriyedathu Thatri incident. Among the people ostracized, there was a law officer of Thrissur, who was married; he left the place and married a lower-caste woman from Palakad. They migrated to Ceylon, lived there for some time and he died after two sons were born. The insecure widow came back to Tamil Nadu, and became a maidservant in several towns, to look after the children. One of the children became a very reputable film actor, a politician and a top administrator.

Chakyar adds: Everything in the story is true, except the reference to Thatri. The names and details of the 66 adulterers in the Thatri incident are there in the archival records at Ernakulam, signed by Smarthan Pattachomayarath Jathavedan Nambudiri, on 1080 Mithunam 32 (1905 July 15), but there is no name with the caste, Menon. It has been gathered from reliable sources that the Menon in reference, is Melakath Gopala Menon. He had married Meenakshi Amma of the Vattaparambil Nair family, Irinjalakuda. They had two daughters. He was punished in another caste trial and had to flee the place and leave the family. The rest of his story begins at Palakad. He might have been ostracized in the 1903 inquisition, conducted at an Illam, near Kunnamkulam. It was a mix-up of two trials that happened within a few years, and his name got included in the notorious one.

In the 1903 trial, the widowed Antharjanam confessed to having slept with 15 men, from Nambudiri to Barber. The 15 and the widow, were excommunicated. The incident has been reported in the Malayala Manorama on June 27, 1903, but the place name in it is, Kunnamkulangara. The report records that the trial was conducted at Tripunithura and she was accompanied to Chalakudi by soldiers and was interned there. It laments that none of the 16 was allowed to put forward their arguments.

Here is the report:

The King of Cochin got a report that a widowed Antharjanam, close to Kunnamkulangara, in Cochin state, had a defect of prostitution, she was summoned to Tripunithura and was put to trial, by priests, under the supervision of the King. In the trial, it was proved the allegations were true, and she was excommunicated by clapping, and then accompanied by soldiers to an uninhabited home on the bank of the Chalakudi River, where it was certain, she would live isolated, at the expense of the Government. Since it has been proved by this cargo(Sadhanam-term for the woman under trial), by her own admission and the trial of the priests, no one would be there to grieve her life imprisonment. She has confessed to having relations with 10-16 males, and accordingly, the 16 have been excommunicated and have been banned from entering the temples and temple ponds, by the King, by orders to the Peshkar. In this case, too, the arguments of the two sides have not been heard into, following, precedence. Everyone has the impression that this is sad and sans justification. This lecherous cargo may have implicated a few gentlemen out of vengeance, or by prodding. Among the 16 who have been excommunicated, there are people from Nambudiris to barbers. There are a lot of gentlemen, people who are married, and few government servants. It is impossible to redeem them from punishment, by someone else, or an apology. Since the decision is for them to stay away from their wife and children, and the Hindu society, no need to say, the decision is arbitrary.

As a Journalist, I salute the democratic values, followed by the then King of Cochin, Rajarshi Rama Varma. A newspaper was free to criticize the King, in 1903. Today, unfortunately, while I write this, Journalists are silenced by bullets, by fundamentalists and administrators alike.

Rajarshi Rama Varma

Smartha Vicharam was a ritualistic trial of a Nambudiri woman and fellow male adulterers, accused of illegitimate sexual relations. The accused were, excommunicated, ostracized and banished. 

MGR's First Wife at 8

The banished Gopala Menon, married Satyabhama, of Maruthur, an Ezhava family of Vadavannur, 15 Kilometers from Palakkad, in Chitur Thaluk. They migrated to Ceylon, where, both worked as labourers in tea plantations. Erik Barnouw, who was Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Arts at Columbia University, interviewed MGR in 1961 and recorded in his book, Media Marathon that Menon was a School Principal and he died when MGR was just two. Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran(1917-1987), was born in a squalid tea estate 'line room', in Nawalapitiya,38 Kilometers away from Kandy and 112 kilometres from Colombo. If Menon was a Principal (quite unlikely) it would have been an elementary school for the Indian labourers in the tea estates. Nawalapitiya is primarily a tea plantation area, with no great school to boast of. The story that Menon had been a Magistrate in Candy, too is fiction. M G Chakrapani was the eldest and MGR the younger, with a girl child in between. The girl child died soon after the death of Menon. The child MGR was a devotee of Murugan, whereas his mother, was of Guruvayoorappan. She used to call MGR, Mudikalan, meaning, the hairy little demon!

V N Janaki

With the chief breadwinner gone, Satyabhama, with her two sons, returned to India. I have read in a Tamil magazine that first they came to Kerala, and sought the help of Menon's first wife, Meenakshi and her family, who drove them away. I have also read, Meenakshi Amma then had two daughters, Kanaka Lakshmi and Sumitra, and a son, Balakrishnan. But, now it appears that she had a daughter, Ammu and a son. Ammu is a nickname. Vattaparambil Meenakshi was the daughter of Parameswara Menon and Pappi Amma, and they had 11 children. The first five among them, are Kochukutty Amma, Narayana Menon, Parameswara Menon(?), Karunakara Menon, and Kalyanikutty Amma.

Sheela

It is said, the poverty-stricken Satyabhama went with her children to Burma, came back to Erode, and settled down in Kumbakonam, with her elder brother's help, during,1919-1920.Chakrapani was 9 and MGR,3.She could not think of sending her children to school, and MGR joined the drama company, Madurai Original Boys Company of S M Sachidanandam Pillai, at age 7, together with his brother. "We were given food, clothes and 25 paise a week, which we did not need at all," MGR reminisced years later. He was afflicted with cholera when he was 10, and with his unemployment and illness, Satyabhama spent her days in penury and prayer. His debut in films was when he was 19, in Ellis Duncan's Sathi Leelavathi in 1936 and he was an extra in M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's 1941 movie, Ashok Kumar.

Satyabhama

Tamil politics had been a roadblock to the Malayali in MGR, forcing him, at times, to claim a Mandradiyar or Mannadiyar ancestry. I quote a moment of MGR speaking to the actor, Arurdhas, from, Arurdhas' book, Naan Mugam Partha Cinema Kannadikal (The Cinema Mirrors that I Looked At):

One day in the make-up room when we were alone, MGR told the following: "Everyone believes that I am a true Malayali. I'm telling this you. That's wrong! There isn't anything inferior in identifying oneself as a Malayali. But as for me, it is not true. My ancestors belonged to the Kongunadu region and were from the Mandradiar caste. Their ancestral town was Pollachi. During the period of Hyder Ali, who ruled Mysore, he passed an edict that Hindus should convert themselves to Muslims. Scared by this, many Hindu families turned into Muslims. Those who were not willing to convert left Pollachi and passed Coimbatore and via Palakkad valley settled in the villages around that region. Among those settled, my father's ancestor was one".

On December 7,1962, there was a switch-on function of the power supply facility, enabled to the Maruthamalai Temple by Sando M M A Chinnappa Thevar, MGR's producer. The Minister for Co-Operatives, Nalla Senapathi Sarkarai Mandradiar presided over the function, and MGR claimed he was a Mandradiar!

After the DMK split, Karunanidhi and Kannadasan were harping on the Malayali ancestry of MGR and he had no choice other than to vehemently deny it, and to speak to his Malayali friends, secretly in Malayalam.

Still, there is an attempt among the descendants of Chakrapani to deny MGR's Malayali connection, saying his father was not Melakkath Gopala Menon, but Maruthur Gopalan. Among Nairs, it is the matrilineal system, to use the family name of the mother, for the children. So in MGR's case, the Maruthur is not Menon's family, but the mother's family.

Even in the marriage of both MGR and his brother, the Malayali root is visible.MGR married thrice: first wife, Chitarikulam Bhargavi /Thankamani died early; second wife, Sathanandavathi(Ammukutty), daughter of Kuzhalmannam Kadukunni Nair and Mookambika Amma, died of TB. MGR, as Chief Minister, visited Sadananthavathi's home, Chandranantha Nilayam, Kuzhalmannam in 1986. The family had preserved the cot used by MGR in earlier days; he sat on the same cot and cried. He spent money to renovate the home.

Sadananthavathi's home in Kuzhalmannam

MGR, in 1956, eloped with V N Janaki, an actress and a Malayali from Vaikam, who later divorced her husband, Ganapathi Bhat, a make-up man, to marry MGR. Some relatives of Janaki have married Vadavannur. Janaki (1923-1996) was the daughter of Rajagopala Iyer, elder brother of Papanasam Sivan, and Narayani Amma of Vaikam. Her brother, P Narayanan was an educationist.MGR in his autobiography has written that she was earning double her income in the 1940s and '50s. She had a son, Surendran, at age 16, from Bhat. She succeeded MGR as Chief Minister. She always resented Jayalalitha, with whom, MGR was romantically involved. In 1967, when C N Annadurai picked up MGR to contest the assembly elections, MGR asked, how much he should contribute."I don't need money", Anna said, "Your face is worth millions".He won the election from a hospital bed, because the actor, M R Radha had shot him.

MGR with Sathanandavathi

I have always felt that mixing up MGR's father with Thatri was but natural because, a few artists were involved in her life: She cherished the famous Kathakali artist, Kavungal Sankara Panikkar sleeping with her in the attire of Keechaka. Other famous Kathakali artists of the time, Katalathu Narayanan Nair, Panankavil Govindan Nambiar and Ranathu Achyutha Poduval had to leave the land and stage. The Kathakali singer,Kunjiraman Nambisan left for Kasi.Thirty years later, in 1935, when Kavungal dressed up to perform, in the silver jubilee celebrations of Palakad Government College, his companions refused to accompany him. Malayalam actress Sheela is Thatri's granddaughter.

In the infamous 1905 trial of Kuriyedathu Thatri, in which 66 males were involved, 64 males and Thatri were excommunicated. Two, Thonallur Krishna Warrier and Guruvayur Njarakattu Pisharath Achu Pisharodi, had died before the trial. Among the punished, there were 30 Nambudiris, including  Desamangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad (I had spoken about this to AKTKM Guptan Nambudiripad, at Kozhikode, in 1983-he admitted and said it was there in the unpublished family history) and one Kaplingad Bhattathiri, 1o Tamil Brahmins, 13 Ambalavasis and 11 Nairs. During the trial, the cash-rich Desamangalam Nambudiripad, sent some people to  Thatri's place, to silence her. The area was cordoned off, and the attempt boomeranged on him. The King of Cochin, Rajarshi Rama Varma had permitted the males to come forward with their version, in the trial, in consultation with the legal luminary, V Bhashyam Iyengar.

Vadavannur home of MGR

Ramavarma, who abdicated the throne in 1914, confessed in his Autobiography that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old married girl after his first wife died. Thatri was the wife of Chemmanthatta Kuriyedathu Raman Nambudiri and the daughter of Kalpakancherry Ashtamurthy Nambudiri. She was 18 when she was married off to an 80-year-old Nambudiri. She had been raped, when she was just 10.

Chakrapani

The trial took six months, in the Vallayil nalukettu, near the Hill Palace, at Tripunithura. Thatri could reel out the names of the males she bedded, some with identification marks. She was sent to Chalakudi and interned at a riverside home. Desamangalam Nambudiri was invited by Swami Nirmalananda of Ottapalam Sree Ramakrishna Ashram to stay there, and he married a Nair woman. There was great furore after the inquisition, and the King, in consultation with renowned lawyers, changed the system, introducing a hefty deposit from the complainant. There was only one trial after that, in 1918. I had been to Chemmanthatta, near Kunnamkulam once, and saw remnants of her Illam. 

Nedumparampu Mana/Tripunithura

The last inquisition happened very close to my own house in Tripunithura, and I used to walk to my school through the vast compound of Nedumparambu Mana, the victim's home.

The heroine in this incident was also Thatri(Savitri), of Pazhur Paduthol Illam, married to Elampankodath Aadhyan Vishnuthrathan Nambudiri of Tripunithura. She was his third wife. Thatri, her four children, Thayyil Raman Menon, Ezhumavil Vasudevan Bhattathiri and Nedumparambil Cheriya Krishnan Nambudiri and his four children were excommunicated. A M N Chakiar, was one of Krishnan Nambudiri's children, who was a Nambudiri, till he was 11. Krishnan Nambudiri hanged himself the same night, and his wife and children were notionally attached to the Ayiniyil Muringoth Chakyar family. Though she had named Krishnan Nambudiri, he had gone to her illam, when he was just seven, to study Rigveda from her husband. His Guru had even died. Her stepson had approached King Rama Varma, against her lecherous activities.

Sathanandavathi (C.1887-1947)

Raman Menon and Bhattathiri were never seen after their ex-communication. Thatri was taken by a Muslim of Vadanapally, Thrissur. Her daughter was married into a Chakyar family; her eldest son married the niece of the famous Chachu Chakyar of Irinjalakuda. The next son became a car driver for the Royal family and the fourth died young. A M N Chakyar retired as Registrar, Kerala University.

MGR/Debut role

Though the Last Inquisition in Cochin was in 1918, records show that, in Malabar, there was a trial in May-June,1930 at the Appala kothamangalam Illam, Kuruvadissery, Ozhur, Ponnani. There were trials in 1902,1908 and 1914 at Parayath Thekkupram Illam, Sukapuram. Other caste trials: Ayanamkunnam 1916, Ponnani Irimpiliyam Moothedath 1917, Ponnani Vadakkekad Thekkekat Kolathapally 1917, Mangad Illam 1917(Kavungal Sanku involved), Ponnani Kaladi Peruvur Edamana Veluthedath 1919, Thirunnavaya Padinjarepattu in 1920 (name, Kenka), Kookkod Chempakassery 1920, Palakad Thatukassery Pakkath 1922, Keraladhiswarapuram Appala Kothamangalam 1927.

In Travancore, Malayala Manorama of  November 16 and 21, 1901 reported the trial of a 13-year-old girl, of, Kottayam Muttambalam Peringara Illam, at Thrigouthamapuram Vishnu Temple. She was alleged to have a relationship with Kunjunni Thampan of Koratti Swarupam. When both were excommunicated, she told the Tahsildar that she doesn't need the money of the Travancore government for sustenance; she would live with the Thampan. Thereafter, both began living at a rented house called, Puthenpurakkal, at Kodimatha. Thampan got a job at the Kottayam Engineer office, at a salary of Rs 12. Her father was generous enough to pay her Rs 25 for the expenses till he gets his first salary.

These records show the zeal of Nambudiri women in chasing their dreams, at regular intervals, thereby, challenging the archaic, cruel system and the existing male dominance. But there is a larger question: For MGR, who dabbled with women, on-screen and off-screen, with his father's DNA, and for Karunanidhi, who married thrice, what was a woman? A cargo?

Menon's first wife from Mulavukad

Rathi Venugopal from the UK informs me that her grandmother, Rugmini, is the daughter of MGR's father's first wife, Devaki. Devaki was from Veluthamveed, Mulavukad, Kochi. He had three children in Devaki: Rugmini and two sons. In other words, Menon married Rathi's Ammumma's mother. Devaki's family had migrated to Mulavukad from Ponnani.

Rugmini was only 1. 5 years old when Devaki passed away. Then Menon left.

-----------------------------------------

Reference:

1. Avasanathe Smartha Vicharam/A M N Chakyar

2.Nan Mugam Parkum Cinema Kannadikal/Arurdhas

3. Media Marathon/Erik Barnouw

4. Archival records, newspaper reports, and Zamorin palace scrolls
5. Smartha Vicharam/P Bhaskaranunni

6. My interviews with AMN Chakyar, Sheela and Premji

Courtesy:mgrperan.blogspot.com for two images.

© Ramachandran 

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