Umayamma Rani

Aswathi Thirunal Umayamma, popularly known as Umayamma Rani, was the Regent of Venad from 1677 to 1684 on behalf of her nephew Rajah Ravi Varma who ruled thereafter till 1718.

Venad or Travancore was at that time in a state of turmoil. The two predecessors of Umayamma Rani, Rama Varma and Aditya Varma, had been adopted from the Vellarapally branch of the Cochin Royal Family in 1630, thereby offending the legitimate claims of the collateral branches of the Venad royal family to the musnud. These collateral branches therefore started exercising independent authority in their domains. They were Elayadathu Swaroopam of Kottarakara, Peraka Thavazhi of Nedumangad and Desinganad Swaroopam of Quilon. Besides, even within the limited domains of the kingdom remaining with the chief branch, factions were rife due to the refractory nobles or madempis, most famous of whom were the Ettuveetil Pillamar.

Excluding the collateral branches, the members at the time of Umayamma Rani's rule in the Royal family of Venad were Makayiram Thirunal, the Senior Rani of Attingal, Umayamma Rani herself as Junior Rani of Attingal and Makayiram Thirunal's son, Rajah Ravi Varma. In 1677, Kerala Varma of Nedumangad laid claim to the musnud but his claim was rejected. Umayamma Rani also adopted in the same year two boys, solely for domestic purposes, with no claims to the throne, namely Raman Koyil Pandarathil, from Vellarapalli, Cochin and Kochu Raman Unni Pandarathil, a Brahmin boy. Kerala Varma of Nedumangad along with the Kottarakara branch even attempted a military coup in 1682. On failure they tried to conciliate the Senior Rani of Attingal, Makayiram Thirunal but even this failed.

It is generally believed that Umayamma Rani had six sons of whom five were drowned by the Ettuveetil Pillamar and that Ravi Varma was her eldest and only surviving son. However, with the help of the records of the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum and other credible sources, modern historians have not only disproved this fable but also positively concluded that Umayamma Rani did not have any children at all. Similarly the story of the poisoning of Rajah Aditya Varma has also been disproved and it is now clear that he died a natural death in 1677 at Darpakulangara Palace.

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