Sree Uthradom Thirunal
Marthanda Varma, 90, head of the erstwhile Travancore royal family talks of his
intimate relationship with the Padmanabhaswamy temple, whose vaults has
treasures worth over Rs 1 lakh crore stashed away in them. A last vault—kallara
B—is yet to be opened and the Supreme Court appointed panel will take a call
whether to open it. However, Marthanda Varma refrained from speaking on the
vaults and the treasures, saying the matter was sub-judice.
At the Pattom palace with Marthanda Varma
I meet up with Marthanda Varma at
the Pattom Palace, tucked away behind the SUT hospital, hidden from the casual
onlooker. The shanka (conch shell) emblem of the Travancore royal family
embellishes the palace gates, the bevy of four wheeled beauties and even the
grills of the palace windows. A devotional chorus swells down the corridor as
Marthanda Varma, in a simple blue shirt and mundu, meets us in the visitor’s
room. A 1939 mechanical Solix watch adorns his left hand. Almost immediately
our attention is drawn to the watch. He points to it and talks of his interest
in watches. “I have 31 watches of different makes,” he says simply. “All of
them are gifts.” I begin my interview with Marthanda Varma. I found him
extremely alert and clear-headed. (Excerpts from the interview were published
by Outlook issue dated 8 August 2011.)
Q: You have said the
Padmanabhaswamy temple is your life and breath. What is your relationship to
the temple?
A: In the Ramayana, there
is a fantastic illustration of what you have asked. At the last moment of the
coronation of Sree Rama as the king of
Ayodhya- Rama was in the middle, Sita on one side, Lakshman and Bharath on the
other and Hanuman at his feet, with his hands folded. Sita asked Rama why he
was spending so much time gazing at the monkey. Rama pulled out a hair from
Hanuman’s back and placed it in Sita’s ear and the hair was reciting: ‘Ram,
Ram…’ If you examine my skin, I get goose pimples, my hair stands on end when I
hear Lord Padmanabha’s name. He is completely saturating me. That is what I
want.
Q: The idea of ruling
the kingdom as a Padmanabhadasa(servant of Padmanabha) is a unique one. The
creation of such a position by Marthanda Varma in 1750 must have had its
political advantages?
A: In all our dealings we
have never thought of using Him as means for a political end. It was an act of
pure surrender. In England, in the early 16th century, King Henry
VIII for various domestic reasons wanted to marry again without the consent of
the pope. He asked his ecclesiastical people for a solution. They suggested
that the King make a new church called the Church of England and style himself
as the Defender of the Faith. We are only attenders of the faith and we see
ourselves as vassals.
In those days when you
fought a war you saw it. In 3rd B.C., when Emperor Ashoka witnessed
the destruction caused by the Kalinga war, he became a Buddhist and lived by
the tenets of Buddhism. In our case, after we won the wars during the formation
of Travancore, we didn’t want any glory. My ancestor Marthanda Varma
surrendered the state, family and himself to Sree Padmanabha and he became a
vassal. A servant is different from a vassal, a servant can leave the
employment whereas a vassal cannot leave, he has to die in harness.
We come from a very old
family. It is divided into three parts. One is beyond the scope of the
historic, the second puranic and the third historically from 870 AD. From the
first Ay family to the present, the family has been humble, humane and god
oriented. India was like that earlier. But during the invasions the culture got
diluted. In the extreme South we have had no problem. Our contact with the
outside world has been mainly through the sea. North Malabar with the Arabs,
Central with the Portuguese and Travancore with Dutch and the British. They all
came here for pepper.
Q. Is that the reason
the Travancore royal family is known for its simple lifestyle?
A: There are two
reasons. One was our culture was not easily invaded and we were left
alone. Two, we are much more religiously
oriented than the kings in the North. These traditions keep us tight on
behavior, food habits and living habits. For instance, since 870 AD, no one in
the family drinks (alcohol), given to smoking or eaten meat. Our family does not
travel abroad, we prefer to stay at home. What you wear, what you eat and how
you live must be suited to the surroundings. Otherwise it would be toxic.
Clothes
should suit the climate. Same as in the case of food- what grows in large
quantities here nature has decided for us and you should know what to do with
it and not eat what other people are eating.
Q: People turn poetic
when they enter the temple. Are there any instances?
A: Yes, about 40 years
ago, one Maharaja who came from the extreme north of India sang bhajans in the
temple for 15 minutes. Nobody asked him to. It moved him.
Q. What most do you
miss about the old Thiruvanathapuram?
A.The very name Thiruvanathapuram is Sree
Ananthapuram which means blessed eternal city. It was in keeping with the
surroundings. We have now gone modern and we have imported architectural
patterns from all over the world. The style of buildings are mixed and confused
and the finishes are all foreign. It does not meld with the surroundings. I miss the old
architectural pattern. The impact of other cultures is transferable so quickly
through the media, films, TV etc… So we tend to get bit careless about
backgrounds and the pristine quality gets diluted. It is my home I like the
most. It is unchanged.
Q. What
do you do on a given day? And what do you enjoy doing most?
A. I am now running 90
years. I have a fairly disciplined routine. I get up at 4.30 am. I do fifteen
minutes of yoga. In the south we are told to love and respect mother earth and
I pray please forgive me for walking on her. I then take a bath. At 5.30 am I go
to the pooja room. Till 6.05 a.m. I read religious books, the Bagwad Gita, a
book written by my forbears in 312 BC called Mukunda Mala, few slokhas, I count
the rosary. Then I do the ritualistic pooja. That takes half an hour. I get
into the car at 7 a.m. and leave for the temple. At the temple when the word
comes for me I enter the temple and worship for 12 minutes. I come back and
after breakfast, I read 4 to 5 newspapers. For 30 years I have been cutting
articles anything from cooking to religion and pasting them in files. They are
voluminous and I am on 180th file. I see visitors after that and
then have lunch at 1. I lie down for 20 minutes and then do my correspondence.
I was a sportsman and I
have played all games except cricket. I am not able to play now because of my
old age. I am interested in motoring and riding, I receive 4 to 6 visitors in
the evening and I attend about 220 to 221 functions every year. Either I
preside or light a lamp. I come back and
I do my devotions and if there is anything worthwhile on TV, I watch it,
otherwise I go to bed by 9.30 pm.
Q.Your family does a
lot of charity work?
A. In my brother’s
time, he felt that his capacity to do charity would diminish so he started four
charitable societies in the 70s. We give about 30 to 40 lakhs every year. We
are giving everywhere hospitals, schools, colleges, houses, poor people in dire
poverty. For cultural activities for music and arts etc…
Comments
A king but such a simpleton this are the real ethics of royalty.........
PROUD TO BE A MALYALLE