Marthanda Varma

Marthanda Varma (Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma) (1705 – 7 July 1758) was ruler of the southern Indian state of Travancore (Malayalam: Tiruvitamkur) from 1729 until his death in 1758. He is most celebrated for crushing the Dutch expansionist designs in at the Battle of Colachel in 1741. Varma then adopted a European mode of martial discipline and expanded his domain to encompass what became the modern state of Travancore.

Varma built a substantial standing army of about 50,000, reduced the power of the Nair aristocracy (on which rulers of Kerala had earlier been dependent militarily), and fortified the northern limits of his kingdom at the so-called Travancore Lines. His alliance in 1757 with the ruler of Cochin, against Kingdom of Calicut, enabled Cochin to survive.

Travancore under Varma did make a determined bid to consolidate its power by the use of maritime outlets. At his accession to the throne in early 18th century, the only route remaining was Travancore to build an elaborate and well-organized war machine while keeping external supply lines open. The control of trade was also seen as crucial in the statecraft of the period. These principles were put into practice by Varma.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Marthanda_Varma

Marthandavarma (novel)

Marthandavarma (Malayalam: മാർ‍ത്താണ്ഡവർ‍മ്മ, Māṟttāṇḍavaṟmma [mɑːṟt̪t̪ɑːɳɖaʋaṟmma]) is a historical romance novel by C. V. Raman Pillai published in 1891. It recounts the history of Venad (Travancore) during the final period of Rajah Rama Varma’s reign and subsequently to the accession of Marthanda Varma. Set in Kollavarsham 901–906 (Gregorian calendar: 1727–1732), the story revolves around three protagonists, Ananthapadmanabhan, Subhadra and Mangoikkal Kuruppu, who try to protect the titular character from Padmanabhan Thambi and Ettu Veetil Pillamar who plan to oust him from the throne of Travancore. The novel utilizes rich allusions to the Indian subcontinent and Western, historical, cultural and literary traditions.

This novel initiated the historical romance genre in Malayalam literature as the first historical novel published in Malayalam language and in south India. The first edition, self published by the author in 1891, received positive to mixed reviews, but book sales did not produce significant revenue. The revised edition, published in 1911, was an enormous success and became one of the best sellers of the time. The story of Travancore is continued in the author's later novels, Dharmaraja (1913) and Ramarajabahadur (1918–1919). These three novels are together known as CV’s Historical Narratives and C. V. Raman Pillai's Novel Trilogy in Malayalam literature.