V. K. Subramanian on Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma

“Very few rulers could come anywhere near Swati Tirunal in his patronage of arts, his catholicity of religious outlook, his transcendence of narrow regional, religious and caste barriers. He was truly a evolved royal sage.”

“Swati Tirumal was a contemporary of the Carnatic musical trinity :Thagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama sastri but did not meet any of them.”

“Swati Tirumal also imbibed the best from the many Hindustani musicians who flocked to his court and composed many songs in Hindustani ragas.”

“He was devoted to Lord Padmanabha, the deity in the Tiruvantharapura temple, but he saw no distinction between Siva and Vishnu, whom he considered as two forms of the same Divinity. His famous song Visvesvar darsan exemplifies this philosophy of his.”