Lakshmi Devnath on Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma

“On April 20, 1829, Swati Tirunal formally assumed charge of his kingdom. Those were tough times for Indians.”

“Creditably, notwithstanding his limited powers, he aimed to make Travancore a “model state.” A well-formulated code of laws, courts of Justice, introduction of English education, construction of an observatory, installation of the first Government printing press, establishment of the first manuscripts library were amongst the many initiatives taken by Swati Tirunal to modernise Travancore.”

“As a monarch, Swati Tirunal was incredibly hardworking and supremely committed to his kingdom and people. Unfortunately, the dice in the game of life seemed to have been heavily loaded against him. The appointment of General Cullen as Resident sounded the death knell for the Maharaja.”

“Young Swati Tirunal was prodigiously talented, and also innately musical. This predilection was not surprising considering that his ancestry boasted of talented musicians, scholars and composers such as Karthika Tirunal (1758-1798) and Asvati Tirunal (1756-1788). Thanjavur Subba Rao, also known as English Subba Rao because of his mastery over the language, was a past master in Carnatic music. He taught the young king to play the swarabat. The king had other music teachers too including Karamana Subramanya Bhagavatar. Government records stand testimony to the fact that young Swati Tirunal was trained in instruments such as the mridangam, veena and the swarabat.”

“The literary works of Swati Tirunal include Bhakti Manjari, Syanandurapuravarnana Prabandham, Padmanabhasatakam, Muhana prasa antya prasa vyavastha, Ajamila, Kuchela Upakhyanas and Utsava Varnana Prabandha. His musical compositions, varied in form and structure, approximate 400 in number, in Carnatic and Hindustani ragas, both familiar and rare. Varnam, kriti, tillana, ragamalika, swarajati, jatiswaram, padam, javali, khayal, dhrupad and tappa, the Navaratri and Navaratnamalika thematic compositions, he composed them all, this prolific output implying an impressive degree of effortlessness on his part. Being a linguist, he opted for a choice of languages like Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Manipravalam (a combination of two chosen languages). He was a past master in the usage of swaraksharas - a musical device where the lyric phonetically matches the note that couches it. He affixed his compositions with the mudra ‘Padmanabha’ and its synonyms.”