The Untold Past

Shri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma (1912-1991) was the 12th monarch of Travancore.The full name of the royalty was HH Shri Padmanabha Dasa Vanchipala Kulashekharaperumal Shamsherjung Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma.He was the last ruling Maharaja of the Princely State of Travancore, later on becoming its titular ruler.The monarch who was a visionary who built the modern day Travancore, established educational institutions, fought for women rights and threw away caste based discrimination, resulting in the temple entry proclamation for the so-called lower castes.He was against all the social evils that existed in Kerala during his reign and he wanted this situation to change for the development of the society.He was well educated and had shown academic brilliance.He gave importance to  his subjects and therefore he was regarded as a generous king.Chithira Thirunal is still respected and honored by the people of Thiruvananthapuram.He was a monarch, who lived a simple life just li...

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813-1846) was the king of Travancore who was an eminent musician, poet and linguist.People around him were amazed with his abilities which were expressed by him in a vast number of artistic fields.During the era he was a maestro in the field of music.He was well known for his gentle behaviour and generosity.He respected all forms of art and artists.He was well educated and fluent in a number of languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Hindustani, Sanskrit and English.He was a brilliant musician who could write, compose and sing at the same time.He knew Carnatic music as well as Hindustani music and expressed his musical skills through both the principles. His contributions in the field of Indian music are significant and enormous.Swathi Thirunal had composed 400 classical compositions in both Carnatic and Hindustani style.He wrote and composed Classical compositions in the category of Krithis which is still sung by musicians ...