A Raja Rani Story
Raja Ravi Varma, the great painter, on assignment to the
Tondaiman palace for a month, could not have imagined that the little
eleven-year-old sitting across from him, modeling for a remarkable painting (which
you can still see and admire at Google Art), would go on to create waves
across many continents after he grew up. The painting itself shows a demure
little boy, resplendent in royal robes and jewels, wondering why he was being
forced to sit through all this instead of playing in the royal courtyards. The
story of that boy, will, without doubt, take you places. From the ancient
principality of Pudukkottai, this tale will take you to England, Australia, New
York, and France, places where the characters stayed during their tumultuous
lifetimes.
Pudukkottai & Kallars
But before we get to all that, let us locate Pudukkottai,
the Tondaiman rulers, the Kallar subjects, and their place in history. Though
these rulers have connections to the ancient Pallava and Chola rulers and were
involved with an area to the North of Madras, termed Tondaimandalam then, we
are now focused on an area called Pudukkottai which came under their realm,
much later. The Tondaiman (of Telugu extract) were the chieftains who ruled over
Pudokkotai from the 17th to 20th century, an area gifted to them by the Sethupatis
of Ramnad. As the story goes, Ranga Raya, a 17th-century Vijayanagara
king, was on his way to Rameswaram when one of his elephants ran amok. A local
chieftain, Raghunatha Tondaiman at Karambakudi, managed to calm the angry
elephant and was then bestowed with many an honor by the grateful Ranga Raya
and given the title Avadai Raya Tondaiman. Later on, Raghunatha and his brother
helped the Sethupathis of Ramnad in some regional conflicts, and it then that Pudukottai
(some 1179 square miles of land), previously part of the Sethupathi domain, was
gifted to them. After several wars against the Nayaks of Tanjore, Hyder Ali,
Tipu, and so on, it became a British protectorate and eventually, a princely
state of British India under the political authority of Madras Presidency.
Ramachandra Tondaiman
The Tondaiman royals seem to have administered their country
reasonably well after the British resident William Blackburn helped them build
the city, and accumulate considerable wealth during the 17th and 18th
centuries. Our story starts with the larger-than-life Raja Sri Brahdamba Dasa
Raja Ramachandra Tondaiman Bahadur from the 19th century and the
attention he invited from his British principals, due to his wayward lifestyle
which stirred up quite a commotion at Madras.
Taking a cue from the Travancore rajas who they maintained a very cordial relationship, the Kallar Raja decided to elevate his ritual status from the commoner and thus in 1882, Ramachandra Tondaiman, the Raja of Pudukkottai, took the title “Brihadambal Das,” the servant of the goddess Brihadambal. The court had already become a ‘go-to place’ for Carnatic musicians, percussionists, and dancers, much like Travancore. Ramachandra who inherited the throne very young, ruled under the tutelage of the previous resident Blackburne’s brother John, until formal accession in 1838. Things were not going too well with his subjects, an agrarian uprising and a palace revolt followed in 1854, resulting in a British warning that they would remove the honorific ‘his Excellency’ while addressing him.
Sastri did not walk into a welcoming embrace and faced
resistance from the young Tanjore-born second wife of the Raja, Janaki
Subbamma, who was not only quick-witted but also quite forthright. She refused
to allow the Dewan to change long-standing practices in place, such as reducing
staff and celebrations and got on to the warpath when the Sastri took a moral
stance against the palace Devadasis and their association with the Royals
(especially the young prince). As for Sastri, the extravagant, non-vegetarian,
and wayward life in the palace was not something he could stomach. Matters came
to a head when he decided to seal off the door provided for the Devadasi’s
private entry into the palace. The simmering fight exploded and the queen
decided to take action, with a few of her priests (parasites according to Sastri)
goading her on. Not only did she try legal means, by hiring a British lawyer, but
she also decided to start using black magic to oust the Dewan. Among the
methods she tried was a ceremonial sacrifice where 1,000 cobras were hung by
their tails over a fire of ghee, and chants to oust the minister were sung (Read
the fascinating story as narrated by Manu Pillai).
The Tondaiman palace was a house of intrigue during those
years, and we can read how Sastri remained firm and it became clear that
sacrifices, magic, and threats would not budge the firmly seated Sastri. The
Ranee accepted defeat and Ramachandra Tondaiman also agreed to reforms, deciding
to adopt and appoint his nephew as his successor. He passed away in 1886 and
thus the little prince Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman now aged 11, (untainted by
the Zenana!) took over a titular position, though Sastri held the reins to the
state and the palace, till the young fella attained majority in 1894.
It was a period when the British decided that they should
take guiding control of local princes and have them educated in the British
style and morality, under Christian tutors (check out
the article on the De la Hey case), As we saw in many cases, it was not a
very wise step and proved to be a failure.
Martanda Tondaiman
Martanda, the subject of the British experiment grew up on
Sastri’s lap but was quickly moved under the care of a specialist British tutor
FF Crossley, at Kodaikanal. Both Martanda and his brother Dorairaja, came under the care of Crossley. Crossley and RH Farmer brought them
up as pukka gentlemen, but it seems did not quite instill in them the abilities
required for the governance of Pudukkkottai! A newspaper reported that Kodaikanal
was a sleeping princess till the touch of the prince (Martanda) woke her to
life. Martanda and Do lived at a cottage named Woodville from 1890 and moved
later to another called Nutshell. While Martanda moved to Britain for
higher studies, Do continued to live at Kodai.
He was brought up as a truly Western subject and became
proficient in sport, attire, and manners, he played tennis, cricket, and golf,
practiced shooting and hunting, rode horses and automobiles, played chess and
the banjo, and violin, held a drink well, knew the ballroom, shot guns and cued
well at the billiards table. He was what the British desired, a ’pukka’
subservient Brown Sahib. By 1913, accolades and honors such as the GCIE were
accorded to him, and for all practical purposes, the knighted young man had set
an example for his British principals. Perhaps Sastri was not too happy with
all this, but that was how it turned out, and strangely Martanda had little
interest in his land and his subjects. Sastri had by now retired, was eulogized
as the maker of modern Pudukkottai, as the great and wise steely administrator
who brought about Devadasi reform in the Madras Presidency and placed on the
throne an educated and suave young raja, after a lengthy period of decadence, waste,
and intrigue.
Martanda learned of the lavish ways at the European
playfields, the glam and the glitz, the gorgeous women, and loved high society
life in Paris, Cannes, and London. Though he spent short stints at Pudukkottai,
far and few, between long forays in Europe, he made sure that the Pudukkottai
palace was revamped. He employed no less than 924 servants and commissioned a
new palace for himself (finished in 1924), complete with a wine cellar, but he was
rapidly becoming a disappointment to his British bosses.
Over time, Martanda was associated with many white women and
was even engaged to an American at one time. But the British were getting quite
disturbed by all this, for this was against the British moral code, and their
perception of moral and racial superiority. This became clear when the young
Martanda decided that he wanted a polished white girl for a wife, a decision
when conveyed to his ‘bosses’, rudely jolted them. The British tried to
dissuade him from marrying a white woman; they tried to tell him that such a
union would not be accepted by his subjects, and succession would not be
guaranteed for any offspring of such a union. From dissuasion, they tried
threats and even suggested that he court a North Indian ‘fair’ princess, but
Martanda remained adamant.
It was a trip down under, in March 1915, to Australia, which
changed everything. Martanda plunged head-on into the social scene, was a
regular at the races and parties, and well, one fine day he spotted a pretty
woman hanging around in the hotel where he dined, and cupid struck! Martanda
had found the woman of his dreams, and wasting no time, the smitten prince went after
the fair lady, intent on wooing her to the altar. Molly Finks, for that was her
name, and her sister, actually brought to Sydney by her mother, so that they
could find suitors, acceded to Martanda’s advances.
The British at Madras were incensed and gave them a cold
shoulder, not recognizing him or the new Ranee of Pudukkottai, formally. Molly
was not welcome for any state visits or occasions, and that was not acceptable
to Martanda, who despite many faults was devoted to his wife. Very soon, Molly
realized that she had become pregnant and was beset with morning sickness,
which intensified. Martanda tried moving her to Trichy, but things did not
improve, and it was rumored that she was being poisoned with Oleander. Martanda
decided to move to Ooty, but the Madras government did not sanction the funds
for a custom house, opining that Molly’s presence would alienate the other
whites at Ooty.
Molly and Martanda eventually moved back to Sydney, where
their son Sydney Martanda was born in July 1916. Soon it became clear that the
British would not allow Sydney to ever succeed Martanda as the Raja of
Pudukkottai, and with that, any interest Martanda had in his kingdom, waned. He
was soon in negotiations with the British on leaving it for good and settled
for 20 Lakhs (then £15,000) annual pension plus a big lumpsum and after installing
his brother Ragunatha as regent, departed India for good, lock, stock, jewelry,
and barrel.
After the war, Martanda and Molly moved in 1922 to Cannes
and settled in their villa named La Favorite, and while Martanda continued with
his passion – horse racing, Molly preened in the balls and parties held by
European and English high society. They were extravagant and well-attired,
with the Ranee of Pudukkottai, as she called herself, immaculately attired in
one of her prized sarees. In 1927, Martanda was hospitalized with abdominal
pains and passed away, aged 53. Madras refused permission for a ceremonial
cremation at Pudukkottai, and the body had to be finally cremated in London. At Pudukkottai,
under the regency of Raghunatha, Rajagopala Tondaiman took over as the last
ruler of Pudukkottai.
Molly, the rich widow, had many admirers and suitors,
including the Aga Khan, but she did not accept any of them and lived her flamboyant
life in London, while Sydney was sent off to a boarding school in Switzerland.
The future Shah of Iran was his best friend for life, and Sydney completed his
studies at Cambridge. In 1938, Sydney was involved in a horrific car crash that
left him with a limp, and the marriage that followed failed, after the girl
ran away with somebody else. Sydney Martanda had many other issues, and a habit of kleptomania, to make things worse.
Sometime later, both of them moved to the US, and Sydney even
became a citizen in 1943, and joined the US Army, while Molly worked for a
fashion house. Sydney was later arrested and imprisoned in New York for alleged
theft. His citizenship was revoked (both of them were investigated by E Hoover
and the FBI) and after a stint in Cuba moved back (seems his citizenship was
reinstated in 1980) to London to live with his mother, who had by this time,
become a recluse and an alcoholic, beset with severe depression.
In 1967, Molly, suffering from bowel cancer, returned to
Cannes to spend her last dying days there (You can still see her clothes at the
Bath Museum of Costume, and many of her jewels are being auctioned now and
then). Sydney passed away in 1984. Many still believe that huge sums and jewels
belonging to them are locked away in banks.
In the end, it was a social experiment gone wrong and became the sad
story of a Raja who never ruled over his subjects. While they faced hatred and
racism, it should also be borne in mind that their decadent lifestyle was
enriched by the hardworking, impoverished peasants of Pudukkottai. Adding insult to this, the British even implied
that this was what mixed marriages end up as, producing offspring with the
worst traits from both races!
Pudukkottai today is a district like any other, with
tourists checking out the palaces, hosting destination weddings at its durbar, and
its musical legacies being written about and compositions sung. It also comes up
in discussions about Ravi Varma, who, during two visits completed a few glorious
paintings and left one or two unfinished.
Rao Bahadur PK Kunhunni Menon (1924-28) was appointed as the
Pudukkottai Dewan, and it was his efforts that resulted in the establishment of
the Pudukkottai Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. That was one of the last
appointments by Martanda Tondaiman before he left India forever. VP Menon in
connection with Pudukkottai’s integration into India, says - I met the Rajah
(Rajagopla) only once when he was invited to Delhi to discuss the future of his
state. He was just twenty-six at the time and seemed completely overwhelmed
when the proposal to merge his State with Madras was put to him. Neither he nor
his adviser had anything to say. The agreement was signed on 29 February 1948.
The palace served as a hospital during WW II. Handing over the treasury in its entirety, Rajagopala vacated the palace for the Collectorate in 1972.
Tondaiman descendants are doing well; some are excellent administrators
or sportsmen, winning medals. I am sure they look back now and then, and often
read about the days of Ramachandra and Martanda, of Janaki and the snakes, and
of course wonder about the prince who never saw India or his inheritance –
Sydney Martanda. Interestingly, when Sydney was told by a friend about the
latter’s visit to Pudukkottai in 1967, Sydney expressed surprise that the place
and the palace even existed!
Though Coralie Younger did not imply it, it was a classic case
of the crescent-shaped Pudukkottai Vali thadi or the Indian Boomerang. By
design, this top-heavy weapon was not capable of, or ever designed to return. It
symbolized the story of Martanda Tondaiman, the king who never returned.
The story of Pudukkottai’s Devadasis is one that I will get to
another day. Those desiring to study Pudukkottai further should at least read
Waghorne’s and Younger’s works, as well as Manu Pillai’s False Allies, though I
have listed below all relevant works that I have looked at.
The Villa La Favorite, originally built for Maxime Outrey, a French ambassador, and occupied by the Tondaiman’s, was recently acquired by an American family, captivated by the timeless elegance and prestige of the iconic property.
ReferencesMolly and the Rajah: Race, Romance, and the Raj - Edward Duyker, Coralie Younger
The Raja's Magic Clothes Re-Visioning Kingship and Divinity in England's India - Joanne Punzo Waghorne
Wicked Women of the Raj: European Women Who Broke Society Rules and Married Life – Caroline Younger
The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom - Nicholas B. Dirks
Joan of India – Suzanne Falkner
Courtly Indian Women in Late Imperial India - Angma Dey Jhala
The Indian Boomerang – Coralie Younger
A General History of the Pudukkottai State – A Radhakrishna Aiyar
Princely India and the British Political Development and the Operation of Empire - Caroline Keen
False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma - Manu Pillai
Black magic and a bureaucrat (Mint Lounge - 05 October 2019) – Manu Pillai
