Ivory Throne
Page 82
90. K.M. George, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, p. 30.
91. Letter dated 01/12/1925 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (IOR/R/2/884/157).
92. Report for the Second Half of May 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
93. See The Regulations & Proclamations of Travancore, Vol. VI, p. 1167.
94. Letter dated 10/06/1926 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, p. 234).
95. Report for the First Half of June 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
96. Report for the Second Half of November 1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
97. Quoted in Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 183.
98. Report for the First Half of June 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
99. Report for the Second Half of June 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
100. Ibid.
101. Ibid.
102. K.R. Ushakumari, Changanassery Parameswaran Pillai, p. 43.
103. Report for the Second Half of August 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
104. P.K.K. Menon, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 596–605.
105. Report on Administration of Travancore for 1929–30, p. 257 (IOR/V/10/2080).
106. K.R. Ushakumari, op. cit., p. 9.
107. Quoted in Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 313.
108. T.K. Velu Pillai, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 696.
109. Robin Jeffrey, Decline …, p. xxiii.
110. Ibid., p. 162.
111. T.K. Velu Pillai, op. cit., Vol. I, p, 9.
112. K.R. Ushakumari, op. cit., p. 43.
113. Robin Jeffrey, Decline …, p. 162.
114. Letter dated 13/09/1938 from the Resident to his mother (MSS EUR F154/23).
115. In fact she was so determined to keep a check on journalism in Travancore, that when some papers moved to small British enclaves along the state’s coast where the government could not touch them, she even proposed to purchase these ‘for a decent money compensation’ from the Government of India. Quoted in Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 315.
116. Letter dated 25/03/1925 from P. Rajagopalachari to Sir Vasudeva Rajah (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
117. See the Memorial from The People of Travancore in IOR/R/1/1/1532 (1).
118. Ibid.
119. Ibid.
120. Ibid.
121. Ibid.
122. Letter dated 04/09/1926 from the Acting Resident to the Pol. Sec. GOI (IOR/R/1/1/1532 (1)).
123. Report for the Second Half of July 1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
124. With the exception of her granddaughters Rukmini and Lakshmi, nobody this author interviewed in her family had ever known that she had suffered from tuberculosis. In fact they were rather shocked. Even Rukmini and Lakshmi had only heard her refer to it very vaguely, and knew no details.
125. Report for the First Half of December 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
126. Report for the Second Half of September 1930 (IOR/L/PS/10/1118).
127. Gloria Paris, A Child of Sanitariums, pp. 1–2.
128. Report for the Second Half of April 1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1151).
129. See Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 246.
130. It was, interestingly enough, Mr. Watts who came to him as a friend with words of comfort and warmth at that difficult moment. ‘It is the fate of all unflinching and unselfish workers,’ he sympathetically wrote, ‘to be misrepresented and misunderstood…And I pray that Heaven may give you the strength to pursue without fear or favour the same straight course you have so far taken…What Her Highness and I know so well, others must inevitably come to learn.’ See Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 247.
131. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
132. O.M. Thomas, op. cit., p. 68.
133. Precedents, in fact, gave him enough scope to exercise his talents, insofar as he did so quietly. When Gowri Lakshmi Bayi was in power, for example, her consort’s ‘valuable counsel was always sought and obeyed in all important affairs of State.’ When she died, as Valiya Koil Tampuran he continued to advise his sister in law, Gowri Parvathi Bayi, in matters of government. See Nagam Aiya, Travancore State Manual, Vol. I, p. 456.
134. Letters in the Maharani’s collection show a number of representations addressed to ‘His Highness’ Rama Varma, seeking favours. His responses that are available therein all ask the applicants to approach the government and not him.
135. Undated draft for a press note (TRF).
136. Report for the Second Half of November 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
137. Letter dated 20/06/1929 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/R/2/885/175).
138. Letter dated 28/06/1930 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/L/PS/10/1118).
139. Letter dated 28/06/1930 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/L/PS/10/1118).
140. Report for the First Half of December 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
141. Letter dated 07/07/1919 from Louise Ouwerkerk to her mother (MSS EUR F232/60). A letter the Valiya Koil Tampuran wrote to his brother in law also shows that while he did have a position of influence with the Maharani, he acted essentially as her secretary, though only at the beginning of her rule. ‘During the early years of the Regency,’ he would write in 1936, ‘I was myself attending to all Her Highness’ confidential correspondence, including typing. I did not mind that much in those days except when the volume of work was unusually heavy. But now having enjoyed freedom from clerical and typing work for some time, I find it somewhat hard to have to do them again … I feel the grinding effects of age are partly responsible for my present listlessness.’ See letter dated 14 Vrishchikam 1111 ME from the Valiya Koil Tampuran to Kunjunni, husband of the Maharani’s sister Kochu Thankam (TRF).
142. S.B. Patterson’s note dated 12/02/1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1530 (2)).
CHAPTER 8: TEA AND TROUBLES
1. There is another version of the story that tells how he cut off his eyelids and cast them into the dust, and that the first tea shrubs grew on that spot. See Laura Martin’s Tea: The Drink that Changed the World (2007) (Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing).
2. See Sarah Rose’s All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire, and the Secret Formula for the World’s Favourite Drink (2010) (London: Arrow Books).
3. Heather Lovatt and Peter de Jong, Above the Heron’s Pool, p. xv.
4. S. Uma Devi, Plantation Economies of the Third World, pp. 64–65.
5. Ibid., p. xiv.
6. Paul Erik Baak, Plantation Production and Political Power, p. 182.
7. Heather Lovatt and Peter de Jong, op. cit., p. 16.
8. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 63.
9. Heather Lovatt and Peter de Jong, op. cit., p. 27.
10. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 86.
11. Letter dated 11/12/1874 from the Resident to the Chief Sec. Govt. of Madras (IOR/R/2/891/253). Ayilyam Tirunal at the time had a personal fortune of five or six lakh rupees, which he intended to leave to his consort and dependants. His brother Visakham Tirunal, however, did venture into plantation in partnership with none other than the Dewan Sir T. Madhava Rao.
12. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 65.
13. Ibid., p. 167.
14. Ibid., p. 156.
15. Travancore at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, pp. 26, 42.
16. Ibid., p. 12.
17. Ibid., p. 26.
18. Chief Secretary quoted by the Dewan in Proceedings of the Travancore Legislative Council dated 24/11/1926 (IOR/R/2/884/163).
19. Dewan’s response to K.P. Nilakantha Pillai in Proceedings of the Travancore Legislative Council on 24/11/1926 (IOR/R/2/884/163).
20. Letter dated 15/07/1926 from G. Brooke to the Dewan (IOR/R/2/884/163).
21. Dewan’s response to K.P. Nilakantha Pillai, op. cit.
22. Chief Secretary’s Note dated 13/11/1926 to the EDB (IOR/R/2/884/163).
23. Ibid.
24. Proceedings of the Travancore Legislative Council dated 24/11/1926 (IOR/R/2/884/163).
25. Report for the First Half of December 1926 (IOR/R/1/1/1584).
26. Dewan’s response to N. Kochukunju Pillai i
n Proceedings of the Travancore Legislative Council dated 24/11/1926 (IOR/R/2/884/163).
27. Report for the Second Half of April 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
28. Dewan’s response to K.P. Nilakantha Pillai, op. cit.
29. Letter dated 25/02/1927 from the Resident to the Junior Maharani (IOR/R/2/884/163).
30. The Feudatory and Zemindari India, Vol VI, No 7, p. 314.
31. Representation dated 21/03/1927 from the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly to the Dewan (IOR/R/2/883/163).
32. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 167.
33. Letter dated 09/06/1927 from Brooke Bond to the Dewan (IOR/R/2/884/163).
34. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 178.
35. K.C. Mammen Mappillai, Reminiscences, p. 132.
36. The Feudatory and Zemindari India, Vol VI, No 7, p. 313.
37. Dewan’s address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly dated 21/02/1927.
38. Ibid.
39. Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 179.
40. Ibid., pp. 170–71.
41. Police Report on a meeting dated 02/04/1927 (Bundle No 543, File 1074, KSA).
42. N.E. Kurien and N.E. Elias quoted in Paul Erik Baak, op. cit., p. 157.
43. Robin Jeffrey, The Decline of Nair Dominance, p. 28.
44. Ibid.
45. Report on the Administration of Travancore for 1926–27, p. 133.
46. See Administrative Reports for those two years.
47. Lakshmi Raghunandan, At the Turn of the Tide, pp. 221–22
48. Travancore at the British Empire Exhibition, p. 12.
49. M.A. Oommen, ‘Rise and Growth of Banking in Kerala’ in Social Scientist, Vol. 5, No. 3, p. 26, and Dick Kooiman, Communalism and Indian Princely States, p. 63.
50. M.A. Oommen, op. cit., pp. 28–29, and Dick Kooiman, ibid. Oommen actually states that only 252 of the companies were actually banks.
51. K.N. Raj and Michael Tharakan, ‘Agrarian Reform in Kerala and its Impact on the Rural Economy’ in Ajit Kumar Ghose ed. Agrarian Reform in Contemporary Developing Countries, p. 31.
52. Report of the Banking Enquiry Committee, Vol. I, p. 160.
53. The 1931 Census estimated 428,321 people employed in the primary sector.
54. See Report on the Administration of Travancore for 1924–1925, p. 101, and the Dewan’s Address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly, February 1929.
55. Dewan’s Address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly, February 1928.
56. Report of the Banking Enquiry Committee, Vol. I, p. 54.
57. Dewan’s Address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly, February 1927, and Report on the Administration of Travancore for 1927–1928, p. 30.
58. Letter dated 07/04/1925 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec. GOI (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
59. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., pp. 312–13.
60. Robin Jeffrey, op. cit., p. 182.
61. Letter dated 07/04/1925 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
62. Letter dated 18/03/1925 from the Junior Maharani to the Resident (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
63. Letter dated 03/04/1925 from the Junior Maharani to the Resident (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
64. Letter dated 07/04/1925 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec. GOI (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
65. Letter dated 18/03/1925 from the Junior Maharani to the Resident (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
66. Letter dated 27/03/1925 from the Resident to the Junior Maharani (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
67. Memorandum dated 18/04/1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
68. For instance although it was the late Junior Rani Parvathi Bayi who had had sons while the late Senior Rani Lakshmi Bayi had none, it was the latter who remained superior and the former continued merely as Junior Rani.
69. Memorandum dated 18/04/1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
70. Letter dated 24/04/1925 from the Resident to the Pvt. Sec. to Viceroy (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
71. Ibid.
72. Report for the Second Half of April 1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
73. Ibid.
74. Telegram dated 06/05/1925 from the Pvt. Sec. to Viceroy to the Junior Maharani (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
75. Letter dated 19/02/1927 from the Junior Maharani to the Resident (IOR/R/2/884/163).
76. Letter dated 25/02/1927 from the Resident to the Junior Maharani (IOR/R/2/884/163).
77. Letter dated 24/09/1924 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/R/2/884/151).
78. Letter dated 10/12/1924 from the Dewan to the Resident (IOR/R/2/884/151).
79. Letter dated 24/09/1924 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/R/2/884/151).
80. Letter dated 10/12/1924 from the Dewan to the Resident (IOR/R/2/884/151).
81. Letter dated 24/09/1924 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec., GOI (IOR/R/2/884/151), and letter dated 13/01/1925 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (IOR/R/2/884/151).
82. Letter dated 17/12/1925 from the Resident to the Pol. Sec. GOI (IOR/R/2/884/151).
83. Letter dated 12/04/1925 from the Junior Maharani to the Resident (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
84. Letter dated 04/09/1925 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, pp. 206–210).
85. For instance, there was a figure of Rs. 40,000 earmarked for donations and presents to be made by the ruler on state occasions. While the Junior Maharani demanded access to these funds on behalf of her son, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi made it clear that during his minority, it devolved upon her to make these grants as head of the royal family. Similarly, a request for Rs. 25,000 specially to make ornaments for the Maharajah was declined, as the family’s personal treasury, the Chellamvagai, had an allocation of its own and any new jewellery required could be crafted there. The biggest dispute, however, arose with the Rs. 1,12,000 earmarked for conducting the two principal annual festivals of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The Junior Maharani again claimed this responsibility for herself, while Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, as interim monarch, clarified that she herself would, in keeping with convention, oversee the festivals until the Maharajah came of age.
86. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 314.
87. Letter dated 14/12/1926 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, Appendix C, pp. 40–41).
88. Letter dated 14/12/1926 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, Appendix C, p. 40).
89. Letter dated 10/11/1925 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, Appendix C, pp. 30–31).
90. Letter dated 24/04/1925 from the Resident to the Pvt. Sec. to Viceroy (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
91. Maharani Regent’s note dated 29/01/1102 ME to the Dewan (Raghunandan, Appendix C, pp. 36–40).
92. Letter dated 14/12/1926 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, Appendix C, pp. 40–42).
93. Report for the First Half of January 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
94. Letter dated 14/12/1926 from the Maharani Regent to the Resident (Raghunandan, Appendix C, p. 40).
95. Report for the Second Half of April 1925 (IOR/R/1/1/1531).
96. Report for the First Half of January 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
97. Report for the Second Half of January 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
98. Report for the First Half of April 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
99. Report for the First Half of November 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
100. Ibid.
101. Report for the First Half of October 1927 (IOR/R/1/1/1644).
102. Dewan’s address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly dated 27/02/1928.
CHAPTER 9: THE BOUDOIR DEWAN
1. Thus, for instance, while the Rajah of Kayamkulam fled in 1746, for three years the nobles of the state continued to resist the advance of Travancore. Nagam Aiya also refers to rebellions breaking out in the domains of the Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur Rajahs after they too had gone into exile. See Nagam Aiya, Travancore State Manual, Vol. I, p. 352.
2. Martanda Varma was hardly being innovative here. As Abraham Eraly tells in The Age of Wrath, when Harihara and Bukka, the founders of the Vijayanagar Empire, who had been taken as prisoners to Delhi and converte
d to Islam, returned to the south and set up their state following the collapse of the Delhi sultanate, a sage advised them to ‘adopt Virupaksha, a Shaivite deity, as [their] patron god, and to rule the kingdom as a surrogate of the god, so as to overcome the persisting public misgivings about the legitimacy’ of these brothers reverting as Hindu Rajahs after having lived a decade as Muslims.
3. A member of the present-day Travancore royal family said to me on condition of anonymity: ‘It occurs to me that the deity was used by the rulers as a symbol of their own power and might, and assuming the position of Dasa, was, in fact, a height of arrogance, for it gives the ruler absolute power to do anything in the name of the Lord! And very conveniently the deity is literally shutting his eyes to it, as he is depicted in Yoganidra! I think this form of the Lord was very cleverly chosen by the first ruler of this dynasty, to satisfy his ego and the subsequent egos of his heirs.’
4. Closer home, it was the Purakkad Rajahs who ruled their state on behalf of the deity of the Ambalapuzha Temple. They assumed the title of Devanarayana. Louise Ouwerkerk tells that while strategy lay behind the move, which ‘placed him and his lands above the control of the erstwhile rebellious nobles, and won over the powerful temple priests to his side. This it undoubtedly was; but its effects were more far-reaching than a political manoeuvre. Sri Padmanabhadasa became the proudest title of the Rajas; they inherited a tradition of total dedication to the service of Travancore. Their lives were simple, their wants modest, their devotion to duty exemplary; and this tradition persisted until the last Maharaja retired into private life in 1950, lamenting that he could not serve his god and his state to the end.’ See Louise Ouwerkerk and Dick Kooiman, No Elephants for the Maharaja, p. 35.
5. A.P. Ibrahim Kunju, Rise of Travancore, p. 118, and Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Vol. 13, p. 110.
6. Susan Bayly, Saints, Goddesses, and Kings, p. 66.
7. The Dutch sources are explicit in this. The accounts of the governor Julius Stein van Gollenesse state how the Travancore Rajah, the ruler of Elayadathu Swarupam, and of Peraka Tavazhi (essentially branches of the Kupaka family) were all Nairs, while the Rajah of Pandalam and the ruler of Cochin were Kshatriyas, while the Devanarayana of Purakkad was a Brahmin. Clearly Gollenesse understood the three categories and he placed the Travancore royal family among the Nairs. See Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Vol. 13, pp. 53–60. The fact that the members of this family used the Kshatriya title of Varma does not point to actually being Kshatriya in caste; the Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur Rajahs were Varmas but never wore the sacred thread and were considered upper-caste Nairs or Samantas. Females of the family (Rani Umayamma, for instance) had names like Nairs, and as late as 1810 when Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi came to power, Col. Munro proclaimed her as ‘Attingal Moopil Lakshmi Amma’, with even newspapers abroad referring to her as ‘Ranah Letchma Amah’ and ‘Princess Letchma Amah’ (See the Glasgow Herald dated 01/11/1811, for instance). For Munro’s proclamations, see IOR/R/1/1/1532 (1). Interestingly, in his subsequent proclamations in 1813 after the birth of a son to ‘the Rani Maharajah’ and later when Gowri Parvathi Bayi came to power, the appellation ‘Bayi’ comes into fashion, suggesting it was these Ranis who adopted what was essentially a Tanjore style name in Travancore. Thus, ‘Attingal Moopil Lakshmi Amma, the Valiya Tampuratti Avargal’ becomes ‘Lakshmi Bayi Maharajah’, followed to power by ‘Parvathi Bayi Maharajah’.