MUNRO, always uncomfortable with his dual role, stepped down in 1814 to make way for an Indian Dewan, and Rani Lakshmi died in 1815. Fortunately, her thirteen-year-old sister Parvati continued her reforms.* She encouraged the cultivation of coffee beans and other industries to boost the economy, repealed discriminatory legislation and taxes based on caste or religion, and by her historic Rescript of 1817 placed at least two state-funded teachers in every school. Hers, Munro told the Company, was an ‘intelligent, liberal and ingenuous mind,’ and such was Parvati’s standing that two years later Travancore was allowed to raise an army for the first time since the troubled days of Balarama Varma.*
Parvati had always regarded herself as a Regent, and duly resigned the throne in favour of her nephew, Lakshmi’s son Swathi Thirunal, as soon as he turned sixteen in 1829.* He quickly capitalised on the efforts of his aunt and mother, to make Travancore one of the best-governed states of the whole Empire.
In 1804, Balarama Varma’s Dewan, Velu Thampi, cut spending on Travancore’s army, prompting a mutiny. The British quelled it, disbanded the army, and then demanded the Raja pay for British soldiers instead. Velu Thampi, who had been pro-British, feared loss of sovereignty and did not pay up; eventually he raised a revolt, which ended in defeat at Quilon in 1809.
Uthrittathi Thirunal Gowri Parvathi Bayi (1802–1853) ruled from 1815 to 1829, when she stood aside for her nephew Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma.
Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813-1846) ruled from 1829 to his death.
Vaccination was a British invention. See Jesty and Jenner’s Jab.