Kingdom of Travancore - History of Travancore - Venad Swaroopam

Venad Swaroopam

Venad was a former feudal state at the tip of the Indian Subcontinent, traditionally ruled by the rajas, known as Venattadis. Till the end of 11th century AD, it was a small principality in the Ay Kingdom. The Ays were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith, ruled over a region from Nagercoil in the south to Thiruvalla in the north. Their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and later towards the end of the 8th century AD, was at Kollam. Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between 7th and 8th centuries caused the decline of Ays, the dynasty was powerful till the beginning of the 10th century. When the Ay power diminished, Venad became the southern most principality of the Second Chera Kingdom Invasion of Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096. However, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram, also fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled the Chera king, Rama varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus, Rama Varma Kulasekara, the last emperor of Chera dynasty, is probably the founder of the Venad royal house, and the title of Chera kings, Kulasekara, was thenceforth kept by the rulers of Venad. Thus the end of Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of the Venad.

In the second half of the 12th century, two branches of Ay Dynasty, Thrippappur and Chirava, merged in the Venad family and thus setting up the tradition of designating the ruler of Venad as Chirava Moopan and the heir-apparent as Thrippappur Moopan. While Chrirava Moopan had his residence at Kollam, the Thrippappur Moopan resided at his palace in Thrippappur, 9 miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, and was vested with the authority over the temples of Venad kingdom, especially the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.

A number of kings such as Kodai Kerala Varma, Udaya Martanda Varma (1175–1195), Vira Rama Kerala Varma, Ravi Kerala Varma, Ravivarma Kulasekhara (1299–1314), Vira Marthanda Varma ruled over the kingdom. After the 14th century, the Venad rulers gradually intermarried with the Namboothiris, and sometimes with the Nairs, adopting the custom of matrilineal descendency.