73. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
77. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
78. Author’s interview with Indira Varma.
79. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
80. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
81. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
82. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
83. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
87. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
88. Ibid.
89. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
90. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
91. Ibid.
92. Ibid.
93. Ibid.
94. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
95. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
96. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
97. He presented the Maharani during his visit in 1922 a copy of his Thought Relics.
98. Edda Mussolini visited in December 1928. See report for the Second Half of December 1928 (IOR/R/1/1/1746).
99. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
100. Ibid.
101. Ibid.
102. Ibid.
103. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
104. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
105. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
106. Author’s interview with Indira Varma.
107. Ibid.
108. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
109. Report for the Second Half of May 1931 (IOR/R/1/1/2064) and author’s interview with Kerala Varma.
110. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
111. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
112. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
CHAPTER 19: THE RELUCTANT PRINCESS
1. Author’s interview with Malathi Varma, who is married to Dr R.M. Varma, the nephew of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi.
2. Author’s interview with Dr R.M. Varma.
3. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
4. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
5. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
6. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
7. Ibid. It was later rented to a Swami who led a very reclusive life, according to Divakara Varma. ‘All that we know is that he kept some cows and every evening would take his Plymouth car and get grass feed for them and return. The front gate was always chained and padlocked. Sometime in the 1950s the property was sold to one Commander S.P.N. Nair, who evicted the Swami, and I think it is a housing colony today.’
8. Ibid.
9. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma.
10. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
11. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
12. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
13. Author’s interview with Kerala Varma.
14. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
15. Ibid.
16. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
17. Author’s interview with Kerala Varma.
18. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
19. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma. The sisters are Bhavani Tampuratti and Rajamma Tampuratti and Kunjannan is Dr R.P. Raja.
20. Author’s interview with Kerala Varma.
21. Ibid.
22. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
23. Michael Edwardes, The Last Year of British India, p. 203
24. V.P. Menon, The Story of the Integration of Indian States, p. 281.
25. Ibid. p. 282.
26. Ibid. p. 288.
27. Ibid. p. 282.
28. Ibid. p. 278.
29. Ibid. p. 286.
30. Ibid.
31. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
32. Lakshmi Raghunandan, At the Turn of the Tide, p. 436.
33. See Kerala Gazette (1963) for these figures. These allowances would be continued even after Indira Gandhi terminated privy purses to Maharajahs in 1971. As of 2009, the Elayarajah (who died in 2013) received Rs. 491,400; while Princess Indira’s allowance was Rs. 85,800 (Princess Lalitha and the Junior Maharani’s daughter, and the Maharanis themselves, had died). The junior princesses, granddaughters of the two Maharanis, had Rs. 39,000 each, while the Junior Maharani’s only grandson had Rs. 78,000. The only living consort in 2009 was Kerala Varma who had Rs. 15,600.
34. V.P. Menon, op. cit. p. 288.
35. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 409.
36. Eric Stracey, Growing up in Anglo-India, p. 14 (1999) (Madras: East West).
37. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
38. The house was purchased from an Iranian gentleman called Mr Kazerooni and his wife, who was a niece of the Dewan. She was also a descendant of the legendary Ali Asker, the famous merchant and horseman at the Mysore Maharajah’s court.
39. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
40. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
41. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma. Ambika Varma is a granddaughter of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi.
42. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
43. Author’s interview with Prabha Menon.
44. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
48. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
52. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
53. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
54. Author’s interview with Malathi Varma.
55. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
56. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
57. Ibid.
58. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
59. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
60. Ibid.
61. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
62. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
63. Ibid.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid.
66. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
67. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 437.
68. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
74. Ibid.
75. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
76. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
77. Author’s interview with Indira Varma.
78. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
79. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
80. The Southern Economist, Vol. 9, p. 148 (Google Books).
81. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
82. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
83. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
84. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
85. Ibid.
86. Shreekumar Varma draft of ‘Those Were the Daze’, which was published in Anita Nair’s Where the Rain is Born.
87. Swathi Tirunal Shobhana Bayi Tampuran and Punartham Tirunal Shreekumar Varma Tampuran.
88. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
89. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 439.
90. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
91. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
92. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
&n
bsp; 93. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
94. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
95. Ibid.
96. Ibid.
CHAPTER 20: ONCE I HAD A KINGDOM
1. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
2. Fifty people served inside the palace while the remainder were outside staff.
3. Lakshmi Raghunandan, At the Turn of the Tide, p. 444.
4. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
5. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 438.
6. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
7. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit. p. 440.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 443.
10. Ibid., p. 443–44.
11. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
12. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
13. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 439.
14. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
15. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 442.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Letter dated 21/02/1958 from the Maharani’s Secretary to the Maharajah’s Secretary (TRF).
19. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
20. Author’s interview with Advocate Ayyappan Pillai. The whole place is now in ruins and seems to have been vandalised, though occasionally Malayalam films are shot there.
21. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
22. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 445.
23. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 445.
27. Menon’s son would later marry the Maharani’s niece Prabha Menon.
28. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
29. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
30. Ibid.
31. Lakshmi Raghunandan, op. cit., p. 449. The owner was one Subba Rao.
32. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
33. In fact some years later her neighbour would be assessed for wealth tax at a rate higher than normal because the value of his property, instead of Rs. 1.5 per square foot was assessed at Rs. 3 per square foot, which the Maharani had paid.
34. The architects later formed the famous firm, Chandavarkar & Thacker.
35. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
36. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
37. Author’s interview with Indira Varma.
38. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
39. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma.
40. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
41. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma.
42. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Author’s interview with Ambika Varma.
46. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
47. Author’s interview with Dr RM Varma.
48. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
49. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
50. Ibid.
51. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
58. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
59. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
60. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
61. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
62. Author’s interview with Prabha Varma.
63. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
64. Author’s interview with Kerala Varma.
65. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid.
70. Information collected from press cuttings and other papers from the collection of Rukmini Varma.
71. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
72. Ibid.
73. Author’s interview with Prasad Bidapa.
74. Author’s interview with Uma Varma and Prasad Bidapa. Mrs Chowdhury herself did not reply to confirm this when contacted.
75. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
76. Ibid.
77. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
78. Ibid.
79. Author’s interview with Ravi Varma.
80. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
81. Author’s interview with Ravi Varma.
82. Author’s interview with Parvathi Varma.
83. Author’s interview with Ravi Varma.
84. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
85. Author’s interview with Ravi Varma.
86. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
87. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
88. Author’s interview with Vanitha Dayananda, a classmate of Lakshmi Raghunandan’s from the 1960s.
89. Ibid.
90. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
91. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
92. Ibid.
93. Divya Kumar, ‘Writing it Right’, The Hindu dated 09/04/2010 at http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/writing-it-right/article392830.ece (accessed 24/11/2014).
94. Author’s interview with Advocate Vijayaraghavan.
95. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma
96. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
97. Ibid.
98. Ibid.
99. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
100. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
101. Ibid.
102. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
103. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
104. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
105. Author’s interview with Devika Radhakrishnan.
106. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
107. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
108. Balagopal Varma’s speech at the Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi Memorial Lecture on 23/11/2014 (Audio file supplied by Jay Varma).
109. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
110. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
111. Ibid.
112. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
113. Radhika Varma Hormusjee’s note to the author.
114. Lalitha, however, felt it was an injustice to her mother who had served the people and filed a court case that the Maharani won a few years before her death.
115. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma
116. Letter dated 01/05/1951 from V.P. Menon to the Senior Maharani (TRF).
117. See letter dated 25/01/1958 from the Maharajah’s Karyakkar to the Senior Maharani’s Private Secretary, and the latter’s response dated 21/02/1958 (TRF).
118. Altogether the Maharajah’s family donated some Rs. 58 lakhs.
119. Author’s interview with Dr. M.S. Valiathan.
120. Ibid.
121. Ibid.
122. Dr Valiathan’s great-grandfather was Kunjaru Rajah, an uncle to Raja Ravi Varma’s wife who was grandmother to Sethu Lakshmi Bayi.
123. Author’s interview with Dr M.S. Valiathan.
124. See Revathinnal Balagopala Varma vs His Highness Shri Padmanabhadasa Balarama Varma (Since Deceased) And Others (judgement) dated 28//11/1991 for the Supreme Court ruling, and also Princely States and Reform in Hindu Law by Arun Mohan for details about the case in the High Court of Kerala.
125. Author’s interview with Dr M.S. Valiathan. The amount agreed was Rs. 20 lakh, which by 1991 went up to Rs. 55 lakh, adding interest.
126. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
127. Ibid.
128. Ibid.
129. Author’s interview
with Shreekumar Varma.
130. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
131. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
132. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
133. Author’s interview with Shreekumar Varma.
134. Author’s interview with Prabha Menon.
135. Author’s interview with Divakara Varma.
136. Author’s interview with Rukmini Varma.
137. Author’s interview with Uma Varma.
138. Ibid.
139. Shreekumar Varma’s draft of ‘Those were the Daze’, which was published in Anita Nair’s Where the Rain is Born.
140. Louise Ouwerkerk & Dick Kooiman, No Elephants for the Maharaja, p. 279.
141. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
142. Ibid.
143. Balagopal Varma’s speech at the Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi Memorial Lecture on 23/11/2014, op. cit.
144. Author’s interview with Lakshmi Raghunandan.
145. Author’s interview with Adrian Mayer.
146. Letter from Adrian Mayer to Rukmini Varma (TRF).
147. Author’s interview with Jay Varma.
EPILOGUE
1. Ibrahim Kunju, Rise of Travancore, pp. 22–24.
2. ‘Vault B should not be opened: Astrologers’, The Hindu dated 13/08/2011 at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/vault-b-should-not-be-opened-astrologers/article2348090.ece (accessed 28/06/2015).
3. These persons do not wish to be named.
4. Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma vs The Union of India on 31 January 2011 available at http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1198234/ (accessed 28/06/2015).
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. ‘Kerala Temple: Achuthanandan takes royal family to court’, NDTV dated 24/08/2011 at http://www.ndtv.com/thiruvananthapuram-news/kerala-temple-achuthanandan-takes-royal-family-to-court-465224 (accessed 28/06/2015).
9. A. Srivathsan, ‘When the vault was opened in 1931’, The Hindu dated 06/06/2013 at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/when-the-vault-was-opened-in-1931/article2201786.ece (accessed 28/06/2015).
10. Jake Halpern, ‘The Secret of the Temple’, The New Yorker dated 30/04/2012 at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/30/the-secret-of-the-temple (accessed 28/06/2015).
11. ‘Vault B should not be opened: Astrologers’, The Hindu, op. cit.
12. See ‘Report by Gopal Subramanium, amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple case’ in The Hindu at http://www.thehindu.com/news/resources/report-by-gopal-subramaniam-amicus-curiae-appointed-by-the-supreme-court-in-the-sree-padmanabhaswamy-temple-case/article5939933.ece (accessed 28/06/2015).
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Prabhati Nayak Mishra, ‘Royal family of Travancore puts forward their story in Padmanabhaswamy temple controversy’, DNA dated 03/11/2014 at http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-royal-family-of-travancore-puts-forward-their-story-in-padmanabhaswamy-temple-controversy-2031552 (accessed 28/06/2015).
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