Travancore Royal Family - Recorded History of The Dynasty

Recorded History of The Dynasty

According to one existing version, the founding members of the Travancore royal family are said to have come to Kerala, from the banks of the Narmada river. Another belief is that Lord Parashurama himself crowned the first official ruler in the dynasty. Officially, their lineage can be traced definitively to at least 820 C.E, which is based on the claim of descent from the Later Cheras of the three southern Indian Mandala Kingdoms namely Chera Mandalam, Pandya Mandalam and Chola Mandalam. According to another legend, a branch of the Chera family was sent to the extreme north of the then Kerala, where they settled and came to be known as the Mooshika Royal family, or the later Kolathiris, while another branch was deputed to go south to grapple with the Pandyan invasions.

One of the two branches of the Chera dynasty shifted to Venad/Quilon where it merged with the Ay kingdom. Ravi Varma Kulasekhara was the last rulers of this Chera Ay dynasty. Ravi Varma Kulasekara described himself as Ay as well as Komaravarmaan as his mother was a Pandya princess. Numerous places are named after this Tamil Cherai dynasty. Ravi Varma Kulasekhara (1299-1314) invaded the territories of the Pandyas and Cholas and performed imperial coronations at Madurai and Kanchipuram and thus threw of the Pandyan hegemony in the region. However his success was short lived and after him his successors could not hold on to these acquisitions of the Pandyas and Cholas. After 1310 the last Chera-Ay King Veera Udaya Marthandavarma was forced to abdicate in favour of the princesses sent from the Kolathiri kingdom called Attingal and Kunnumel Ranis. But they adopted the titles of Chera-Ay rulers. The line of kings after Ravi Varma continued through the Marumakkathayam law of matrilineal succession of Nairs, from whom most of the royal house hold of Kerala comes. Soon after Ravi Varma's death two princesses were adopted from the Kolathiri Royal family and installed as Ranis or Queens at Attingal. The Venad Royal family continued thus in the female line. Whenever there were no females to take forth the line, princesses were adopted from the Kolathiri family, the latest adoption being in 1994. Umayamma Rani who reigned towards the end of the 17th century was a prominent ruler. Marthanda Varma, the "maker of modern Travancore" and Dharma Raja were powerful rulers who reestablished the power of monarchy in the state and destroyed that of the nobles. By the early 19th century the kingdom became a princely state under the British. Swathi Thirunal was one of the most popular rulers of the 19th century. The regency of Sethu Lakshmi Bayi was a time which heralded many new reforms which were continued by Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma.