I love to travel and visit historical places. I had been to the famous Kaudiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, India, when I was seven years old. I got an opportunity to visit the palace again this summer! Even though I was born in the USA, I do not want the roots of where my family comes from to be forgotten.
The construction of the Kaudiar Palace started about a hundred years ago. The construction was done in several stages, and completed in 1931. The beautiful architecture of this palace is inspired from traditional Kerala culture and European culture. In its finished form, the palace is on 16 acres of land and has around 106 rooms!
The land around the palace is covered by huge trees, giving an elegant green look overall. I was surprised to see the land close to the palace being used for vegetable cultivation instead of a flower garden like what we see in most mansions.
My grandfather is the palace secretary. He has held this prestigious position for a decade! My grandfather took me to visit the palace. This is a grand opportunity that most people don’t get! When I went to visit the palace as a seven-year old, I didn’t know much about the palace or its royal inhabitants.
Princess Pooyam Thirunal Gowri Parvati Bayi and Princess Ashwathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi are the two princesses of the Travancore royal family who reside in this palace today.
When my grandfather took me to meet the princesses, what stood out to me was that the princesses don’t wear crowns. They wear simple, but elegant, traditional clothing like my grandmothers. So, I called them “Ammuma”, which means “grandmother” in the language Malayalam that is spoken in this part of India. While my family didn’t know what to expect since outsiders do not address the princesses in this way, both the princesses marveled at my loving gesture.
When I visited the palace recently, I was able to speak to the princesses about my hobbies. They wanted to know more about robotics and how it not only is for fun but is also the technology behind innovations like self-driving cars. I also showed them how to solve the Rubik’s Cube in under 30 seconds!
They were very happy about the fact that I write about my experiences in my blog. I took some photos with the princesses. In one of the photos, the older princess is holding me in her arms like how my grandmother does. Getting embraced by a princess is an honor!
When I was eight years old, I went on a trip to London with my family. We went to Buckingham Palace. However, we could only see the palace from the gates because the British queen was on vacation. It would be very unusual to be able to go into Buckingham palace and have a conversation on robotics with the queen!
The princesses in Kaudiar Palace are much more approachable. The younger princess was kind enough to autograph the copy of her book that I own!
The princesses spend most of their time in social welfare activities. They also told me about the bravery of their ancestors. One of the stories they told me was about the Battle of Colachel. This battle was fought by their ancestor, King Marthanda Varma of Travancore, against the Dutch colonial forces.
The Dutch wanted to control the trade of valuable items in India like spices. So the Dutch joined forces with the rulers of smaller kingdoms to try to control the powerful kingdom of Travancore. But, King Marthanda Varma was brave and intelligent. His army fought multiple battles where they defeated the combined forces of the Dutch and other neighboring kingdoms.
A major battle was fought in August 1741 at the beautiful port town of Colachel in South India. King Marthanda Varma and his generals came up with a plan to surround and attack the Dutch forces both in the sea and on land. The Dutch forces were surprised by this attack and fell to a heavy defeat. They surrendered to the king’s army. For the first time, a native power had defeated the white colonial power!
The battle of Colachel has a significant place in Indian history because the Dutch never posed a major colonial threat to India after that. The younger princess showed me the original weapons used by the king in the battle of Colachel against the Dutch forces.
The members of the Travancore royal family are also the guardians of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Other than its fame as a great Temple of Lord Vishnu of the Hindu religion, this Temple is known throughout the world for its massive collection of gold ornaments stored in the Temple’s vaults. All of this gold was put there by the ancestors of the Travancore royal family to protect it from being stolen or used for nefarious purposes.
Being the palace secretary, my grandfather takes part in various festivities at the Temple. One of the important ones is to protect the Temple’s idols as they are taken for a holy bath in the sea. My grandfather takes part in this procession dressed in traditional clothes and holding a sword – along with the present day King of Tranvancore who is the brother of the princesses!
My visits to the Kaudiar palace will always be some of my most treasured memories. The warm hospitality of the princesses during my visits make me feel like they are my family!
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