sri PADMANABHA temple and Lord MUNROE

[gobilalitha]

SRI PADMANABHASAWMY TEMPLE, TRIVANDRUM
And
SIR THOMAS MUNRO, GOVERNOR of MADRAS
Hinduism, also called Sanathana Dharma, is universal in application and does not make any difference between one religion and the other. All the devotees who believe and follow the tenets of Hinduism are respected and rewarded alike. The foregoing is a classic example of an Englishman by name Sir Thomas Munro [1761-1827] who was the Governor of Madras and his devotional attachment to Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Trivandrum [then called Travancore].
When India was ruled by the British, there were so many princely states like Mysore, Rajasthan, Travancore etc which were directly ruled by the respective Maharajas who owed allegiance to the British throne. The erstwhile Maharajas of Travancore ruled the State in the belief that it was their ‘Divine Right to Rule’. They were simultaneously aware of the fact that the Right to Rule entirely depended on their ability to rule ‘rightly’ in keeping with the tenets of Hindu Dharma or Raja Dharma as it is called in Sanskrit. They also knew that it was Divinity that gave them the power to rule.
In 1750, King Martanda Varma, the most powerful of the Travancore rulers, pledged that he and his descendents would serve the kingdom as servants of Lord Padmanabha [Padmanabha Dasa], the Lord being the King. The British had observed the tradition and honoured the Lord with a 21-gun salute
When the Indian states were merged, Independent India appointed the Travancore royal head as the Raj Pramukh; but he preferred to be known as Padmanabha Dasa, and not as Raja Pramukh. The government had continued to honour the tradition of 21 gun-salutes to the Lord till 1970 when, along with the abolition of princely titles, the honour of the Lord was withdrawn!
Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple, as seen today, was built by Maharaja Martanda Varma in 1773. Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the Temple has an 18 feet long idol and a seven-tier Gopuram.
Sometime in the early 19th century, the State was ruled by Maharaja Martanda Varma. When he passed away in 1813 he had no male heir to succeed him to the throne. So, the British Government approved of a provisional arrangement to rule the State by making his wife Rani Lakshmibai as a Regent. This was an immediate and temporary arrangement till a final decision was taken about the successor. At that time Thomas Munro who was stationed at Travancore was representing the British Government as Dewan.of Travancore. After sometime, the Governor General of India asked Munro to intimate the name of a suitable successor. Munro could not give an immediate reply as he knew that at that time Rani Lakshmibai was carrying and the delivery was expected soon. If the Rani failed to deliver a male child, the Travancore State, as per the Doctrine of Succession, would lapse to the British throne.
When a final reminder came from the Governor General for an immediate reply and the decision could not brook any delay, Munro was in a real fix. The Queen had not yet delivered. However, as Munro had great respect to Hinduism and believed in the Divinity of Lord Padmanabha and as he was also keen on continuing the lineage of the Maharaja, he prayed to Lord Padmanabha and sent a letter to the Governor General saying that the Queen had delivered a male child, even though no delivery had taken place. He took a great risk of uttering a lie, guided by an inner voice that divine intervention would prove him true.
Munro spent sleepless nights after sending the letter. One fine morning he went on horse back to the East Fort at Travancore and facing the Lord murmured “O Lord! I believe you are omnipotent. I adore you. Please grant me a boon. Let Her Highness deliver a male child. There should not be a gap in your Slave Kings. Bless Her Highness with a male child for the throne”. He further added “if it is true that you are there, grant me my boon. If it is not granted, I cannot say what I will do”. After his prayer, Munro returned to the Residency, his official residence. Within a few minutes, he heard the news that Her Highness had delivered a male child. The joy of the Resident knew no bounds. He cried in ecstasy “O Lord Padmanabha! You are a reality. You are very much there in flesh and blood”
The male child that was born to Rani Lakshmibai in 1813 was none other than the most famous ruler of the State who later ascended the throne of Travancore as Swathi Tirunal Maharaja—one of the greatest composers of Carnatic music. Besides music, His Highness was highly learned in Sanskrit, poetry and other fine arts. Though His Highness died at the young age of 34 years, he ruled the State for nearly 18 years and was a master of 13 languages. Apart from music compositions, he has written a book on “The Theory of Music” in his own handwriting which is preserved even today in the Department of Oriental Studies, Trivandrum.
Munro became an ardent devotee of Lord Padmanabha and personally undertook the work of temple administration. The code he evolved in Temple Administration is even now followed in several temples of that region.
As a digression, it may be noted that when Munro first came to India and took service under the British Government in 1801, he was for some time looking after the administration of some of the districts in the South, ceded by the Nizam of Hyderabad. In this capacity, he was once entrusted with the job of bringing the land on which the famous Sri Raghavendra Swamy Math is situated in Mantralaya (on the banks of Krishna River near Raichur) under the control and jurisdiction of the East India Company under the Permanent Settlement Act. When this order came to the notice of the local citizens, many natives and devotees of the Math vehemently opposed the move as they thought it would be a religious sacrilege for a foreign government to encroach upon the holy premises of the Math. They approached Munro with their grievance. Munro decided to visit Mantralaya personally and check about the religious sanctity of the Math. It is said that when he reached the Math premises, removed his shoes and was about to enter the Math, Sri Raghavendra Swamy himself appeared before him in a vision and it is further said that both became involved in a conversation. However, no one knew about this till the fact was made known by Munro himself. A subsequent issue of the Madras Government Gazette, however, bears witness to this strange incident. It is also learnt that soon after this incident, Munro was promoted as the Governor of Madras Presidency in which capacity he got cancelled the earlier decision of the British Government to annex Mantralaya. When the Math sent some consecrated coloured rice [Mantrakshatha] to Munro as God’s Blessings on the occasion of his elevation to the post of Governor, he received it with all humility and reverence.
Sir Thomas Munro, Scottish by birth and Hindu at heart, died of Cholera in India in 1827.

[RaviSri]

Excellent piece of history gobilalita. I did not know this about Swati Tirunal. Thanks for the info.

The Travancore kings had their capital at Padmanabhapuram, now in Kanyakumari district, Tamilnadu. Their kuladeivam then was the Adi Kesava Perumal at Tiruvattar, a divya dEsham. After Marthanda Varma shifted his capital to Trivandrum, he built the Padmanabhaswamy temple. Whereas Padmanabhaswamy lies facing to our left, Adi Kesava Perumal lies facing to our right.

[kssr]

Sir Thomas Munro became Sri. Munro Baba in the true Indian tradition

[cmlover]

Actually the idol of Lord Padmanabha was discovered by Bilvamangala swamigaL through a dream at the place called Ananthan kaaDu (forest) which later became Thiruvananthapuram after King Marthanda varma built the temple.
Is not Munroe the author of the Munroe doctrine, the doctrine of succession of rights which ruthlessly annexed several kingdoms to British India ?

[kssr]

Most temples' have no proper historical record. The so called sthala puranams are mostly mythological - linked to dreams, swayamboo (auto-created), or linked to indra or chandra or Rama or Krishna. What a great pity. Madurai, Srirangam and now TVM do not have recorded history. Thanjavur is the only exception. It is not one of the older ones and even that is over 1000 years old. Compare it to similar times in other countries. They had almost nothing .Such a grand heritage of ours is being frittered away. I do not know if the ASI is taking any effort to scientifically analyse and publish details of each heritage site. Leave the sthala puranams to upanyasakars.

[MaheshS]

Is not Munroe the author of the Munroe doctrine, the doctrine of succession of rights which ruthlessly annexed several kingdoms to British India ?

The Munroe Doctrine was from The American President James Mundroe. This was Sir Thomas Munro.

[satyabalu]

Thanks for sharing Gopilalitha!Had an opportunity know about ST&Munroe.

[cienu]

Is not Munroe the author of the Munroe doctrine, the doctrine of succession of rights which ruthlessly annexed several kingdoms to British India ?

What you perhaps meant was the "The Doctrine of Lapse" - an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856. According to the Doctrine, any princely state or territory under the direct influence (paramountcy) of the British East India Company (the dominant imperial power in the subcontinent), as a vassal state under the British Subsidiary System, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either "manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir" thereby supplanting the long-established right of an Indian sovereign without an heir to choose a successor. In addition, the British decided whether potential rulers were competent enough. (courtesy wiki)

[Nick H]

Good grief! How many countries would survive if their leaders had were tested for manifest incompetence today?

(Mind you, I guess competence is in the eye of the beholder)

[rshankar]

would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either "manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir"

Wasn't this one of the reasons that set off the revolt of 1857 (sepoy mutiny)? - when Dalhousie annexed the kingdom of jhAnsi after the king died without a biologic heir, refusing to recognize the son the king had adopted a few months before his death. Smt. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan in her epic poem, jhAnsi ki rAni, describes this situation as 'lAvAris kA vAris bankar british rAj jhAnsi AyA'..which then lead the valorous lakshmibAi to join the rebels and take to the battlefield to settle her scores on her way to becoming an unparalleled legend.

[gobilalitha]

whilst discussing history let me come to a funny story. A British officer of a very high rank used to go along the beach road along with his 6 year old son for a walk admiring the awesome statue of Munroe sitting on a horse( an aesthetic marvel) . The day prior to his departure to England after retirement, his son insisted on seeing the statue for a last time. THE officer presumably touched by his patriotism of his son to have a look at MUNROE took him there. On returning home he asked the boy why he was so particular to see the statue. THE BOY REPLIED ' I LIKE THE HORSE VERY MUCH!!!(I am not sure whether the statue is still there or shifted to the museum) . now friends can continue with history.

[harimau]

It is typical of Indians that they never let facts get in the way of telling a good story.

I read Gobilalitha's original post and I was moved practically to tears.... if a cynic like me can shed tears.

So I googled for Swathi Thirunal and this is what I found in Wikipedia:

[Swathi Thirunal (as he is commonly known) was born into the Kulasekhara dynasty of the Royal family of Travancore state, which is now a part of Kerala State in India) on April 16, 1813. He was the second child of the Regent Queen Gowri Lakshmi Bayi who ruled Travancore during 1811 - 1815, and Rajaraja Varma Koyithampuran of Changanasseri Palace. The famous poet and composer and close relative Iraiyamman Tampi wrote the song Omanathinkalkkitavo nalla komalathamarappuvo (ഓമനത്തിങ്കള്‍ക്കിടാവോ നല്ല കോമളത്താമരപ്പൂവോ), perhaps the most famous lullaby in Malayalam, about Swathi Thirunal when he was born. He had an elder sister (Rukmini Bai) and a younger brother (Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma). Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi died about two months after the birth of her third child.]

Google is your best friend!

I am sure Gobilalitha found the material for his original post somewhere and merly copied it but one should do a bit of fact-checking when stories like these are spread around.

[vasanthakokilam]

This is not about this story per se, but one will also be well served fact-checking what is in Wikipedia as well, but it indeed has a much better chance of being closer to the truth since it gets eye balls from a lot of people and they can make edits. But one should be careful about rarely visited pages. One way to give yourself some assurance is to check the 'view history page' (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... on=history ) and see how many contributors are there and if there had been discussions about the content.

[ramanathan]

Sometime in the early 19th century, the State was ruled by Maharaja Martanda Varma. When he passed away in 1813 .... blah blah

Please check facts before posting |( There is a very public document named Travancore State Manual, for starters...

[harimau]

This is not about this story per se, but one will also be well served fact-checking what is in Wikipedia as well......

I did cross-check with another site.

Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma was succeeded by his younger brother Uttharam Thirunal Marthanda Varma. Both websites have that information and I am sure the lineage of the Royal House of Travancore would show that.

[harimau]

This gets even better.

Sir Thomas Munro was nowhere near Trivandrum at any point in his life if his biography is to be believed!

Here is an extract from
http://www.electricscotland.com/history ... thomas.htm

[Significant Scots
Major-General Sir Thomas Munro



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


MUNRO, (MAJOR-GENERAL, SIR) THOMAS, bart. and K.C.B., a celebrated civil and military officer in the service of the East India Company, was the son of Mr Alexander Munro, an eminent merchant in Glasgow, where the subject of this memoir was born on the 27th May, 1761. His mother, whose name was Stark, was descended of the Starks of Killermont, and was sister to Dr William Stark, the distinguished anatomist. After going through the usual routine of juvenile education, including the established term of attendance at the grammar school, young Munro was entered a student in the university of his native city, in the thirteenth year of his age. Here he studied mathematics under professor Williamson, and chemistry with the celebrated Dr Irvine; and in both sciences made a progress which excited the admiration of his teachers.

.......


In the situation of assistant intelligencer, he remained till October, 1790, when, Tippoo having resumed hostilities with the English, he returned to his military duties, by joining the 21st battalion of native infantry, which formed part of the army under the command of colonel Maxwell. Mr Munro remained with the army, sharing in all its dangers and fatigues, and performing the various duties assigned to him with his usual diligence and activity, till the month of April, 1792, when he was appointed to assist Captain Read in the management of the district of Barmhaul. In this employment he continued till March, 1799, having, in the mean time, June 1796, attained the rank of captain; when, on a war with Tippoo again occurring, he joined the army under lieutenant-general Harris, and served in it with his accustomed ability and zeal, until after the siege of Seringapatam and death of Tippoo, when he was appointed to the charge of the civil administration of Canara. This charge was an exceedingly laborious one, and, in almost every respect, an exceedingly unpleasant one; but the circumstance of his appointment to it, was, nevertheless, a very marked proof of the high estimation in which his talents were held by the government, for it was also a charge of great importance; and the authorities did justice to his merits, by believing that there was no individual in India so well qualified to fill the situation as captain Munro. The principal duties of his new appointment were, to introduce and establish the authority of the government; to settle disputes amongst the natives; to punish the retractory; and to watch over the revenues of the district: and from twelve to sixteen hours were daily devoted to this oppressive and harassing routine of business.


Having accomplished all the purposes for which he was sent to Canara, and having established order and tranquillity, where he had found turbulence and violence, Major Munro (for to this rank he was promoted, May 7, 1800) solicited the government to be intrusted with the superintendence of what were called the Ceded Districts; a certain extent of territory, yielded up in perpetuity to the Company by Nizam, in lieu of a monthly subsidy which had been previously exacted from him.


The request of major Munro was not complied with, without much reluctance and hesitation, proceeding from the high value placed upon his services where he was; but it appearing that these would be equally desirable in the situation which he sought, he was removed thither in October, 1800. Here he performed similar important services, both to the country itself and to the Company, as he had done at Canara. Within a few months after his arrival, he cleared the province of numerous bands of marauders, which had previously kept it in a state of constant terror and alarm, and filled it with robbery and murder. He everywhere established order and regularity, and finally succeeded in converting one of the most disorderly provinces in India, into one of the most secure and tranquil districts in the possession of the Company. This, however, was not accomplished without much labour, and many personal privations. He repeatedly traversed the whole extent of territory under his jurisdiction, and for the first four years of his residence in it, never dwelt in a house, being continually in motion from place to place, and on these occasions making his tent his house.


During the time of his services in the Ceded Districts, Mr Munro was promoted, 24th April, 1804, to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.




Colonel Munro retained his appointment in the Ceded Districts till the year 1807, when he came to the resolution of paying a visit to his native country. With this view, he applied for and obtained permission to resign his situation; and after a few days spent in preparation, embarked, in October in the year above named, at Madras for England, leaving behind him, after a service of seven and twenty years, a reputation for talent, diligence, and exemplary conduct, both as a civil and military officer, which few in the same service had attained, and none surpassed. In the former capacity, he had undertaken and accomplished more than any British functionary had ever done before him; and in the latter, he had displayed a talent for military affairs, which all acknowledged to be of the very highest order.


After an agreeable passage of nearly six months, colonel Munro arrived at Deal on the 5th April, 1808. From Deal he proceeded to London, where he was detained by some pressing business, until the summer was far advanced. He then set out for Scotland, but not without some melancholy forebodings of the changes which he knew so great a lapse of time as seven and twenty years must have effected on the persons and things associated with his earliest and tenderest recollections. These anticipations he found, on his arrival, realized. That mother to whom he was so tenderly attached, and whose comfort and welfare had been a constant object of his solicitude, was no more. She had died about a year previous to his arrival. Two of his brothers were dead also, and many besides of the friends of his youth. The imbecility of age had moreover come upon his only surviving parent, and had effected such a change, as to mar that reciprocity of feeling, which their meeting, after so long a separation, would otherwise have excited.


On his return to Glasgow, colonel Munro revisited all the haunts of his youth, and, particularly, North Woodside, then a romantic spot in the vicinity of the city, where, in his early days, his father had a country residence, to which the family resorted every summer. Here, with all that simple and amiable feeling, peculiar to generous natures, he endeavoured to annihilate the space of time which had elapsed since he had been there a boy, and to recall, with increased force, the sensations of his youth, by bathing in the dam in which he had sported when a boy, and by wandering through the woods where he had spent so many of the careless hours of that happy season. This feeling he even carried so far, as to climb once more a favourite aged tree, which had enjoyed an especial share of his youthful patronage and affection. Every branch was familiar to him; for he had a thousand times nestled amongst them, to enjoy in solitude and quietness the pages of some favourite author.


Colonel Munro now spent a good deal of his time in Edinburgh, where he resumed his favourite study, chemistry, by attending the lectures of Dr Hope, and by perusing such works on the subject as had appeared since he had left Europe. During his residence in Britain, he took a lively interest in the Peninsular war, and was known to be in constant communication with the duke of Wellington, who had become acquainted with him in the East, and who had there learned to appreciate his eminent abilities. About this time, also, he accompanied Sir John Hope to the Scheldt as a volunteer, and was present at the siege of Flushing.


The East India Company’s charter now drawing to a close, and the question of the propriety of its renewal having attracted an extraordinary share of public attention; a parliamentary committee was appointed to inquire into, and hear evidence on the subject, to enable the house to come to a decision regarding it. Many persons connected with India were in consequence examined on the affairs of that country, and amongst the rest the subject of this memoir; and such was the clearness of his evidence, the importance of the information which he gave, the comprehensiveness of his views, and the general talent and judgment which characterized all his statements, that the court of directors immediately placed him at the head of a commission of inquiry which they decided on sending out to India, to remedy those defects and abuses which the evidence now placed before them had brought to light.


Previous to his returning to India, colonel Munro married, 10th March, 1814, Jane Campbell, daughter of Richard Campbell, Esq. of Craigie House, Ayrshire, a lady remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments. This connexion added greatly to colonel Munro’s happiness, and eventually opened up to him a source of domestic felicity which his disposition and temper eminently fitted him to enjoy.


His commission having now been duly made out, and all other preparations for his voyage completed, he embarked, accompanied by his wife and sister-in-law, in the month of May, 1814, at Portsmouth, and after a pleasant passage of eighteen weeks, arrived at Madras on the 16th September.]

In short, Sir Thomas Munro was back in Scotland in 1813 when Swathi Thirunal was born.

I also found the original posting of Sri Gobilalitha. Just google for Sir Thomas Munro and you will find it.

[ramanathan]

The essential confusion here seems to the name Munro! Sir Thomas Munro was the British Governor of Madras. The Munro of Travancore, popularly called Munro Sayippu or Diwan Munro is Col. John Munro who was a popular (!!) British Resident. He was Diwan of Travancore between 1811 & 1814.

In the true spirit of this age of instant spoon-fed information... here is the link to one of the best possible sources of Travancore history, with the relevant page ref!
http://books.google.com/books?id=gxsrz7 ... &q&f=false

[Pratyaksham Bala]

There were two Munros and, therefore, the confusion!

One was Col. John Munro who was appointed the Resident of Travancore & Cochin on 23rd March 1810. He was the Diwan of Travancore between 1811 and 1814, and of Cochin between 1812 and 1818. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Di ... Travancore

Another Munro was Col. Thomas Munro, who became a General and subsequently a Major General. In 1818 he was rewarded with KCS, to become Sir Thomas Munro. He was sent back to India to take charge as Governor of Madras in June 1820.

---
Thanks ramanathan!
I solved this puzzle in the morning; but I am late in posting.

[kssr]

Anyone related to Marlyn Monroe ?

[harimau]

There were two Munros and, therefore, the confusion!

From Wikipedia::

[Elected into the British Parliament at the young age of 25, Dalhousie was appointed the Governor-General of India in 1847....

Under his reign, the British implemented the policy of ‘lapse and annexation’ which ensured that if a king did not have any natural heirs, the kingdom would be annexed to the British Empire. Using this policy, the British annexed some of the princely states.]

Wikipedia also states [The princely state of Kittur was taken over by the East India Company in 1824 by imposing a 'Doctrine Of Lapse'. So it is debatable whether it was actually devised by Lord Dalhousie in 1848, though he arguably did make it official by putting it to paper-and-ink.]

So, the confusion over the two Munro's is not the issue here. The issue is that the entire story is wholly made out of cloth.

[cmlover]

Here is an interesting anecdote from the pages of Travancore ...

A British Resident (? name) wanted to confiscate some of the Temple jewels (? Lord Padmanabha) for the East India Coompany. As he was contemplating he was invited to attend the Ottam thuLLal of Kunjan Nambiar at the palace. He attended with his ferocious dog on leash and sat on the front row. Nambiar was performing the story of Ravana lifting Kailas and getting the blessing of Lord Siva. As nambiar mimed the lifting of Kailasa by Ravana with great din and pomp, he came near the Resident and dropped the imaginary mountain close to the dog uttering a fierce cry. The dog gave a piteous yelp and died on the spot. The Resident abandoned the idea of confiscating the Temple jewels...

[vasanthakokilam]

"Sometime in the early 19th century, the State was ruled by Maharaja Martanda Varma. When he passed away in 1813 .... blah blah"

Please check facts before posting |( There is a very public document named Travancore State Manual, for starters...

Ramanathan, Is there a link? That will be interesting to read.

BTW, to all, in general don't get perturbed if members cross-post something "interesting" they see. I do not need to mention that it is a common internet forum practice.. Very few, if at all any, go to the trouble of double checking and triple checking the facts. That will all get sorted out through discussions like this. I am glad that is happening in this thread.

[ramanathan]

Just google it... there are two TSMs afaik, one by Nagam Aiya and one by TK Velu Pillai. Both are avbl as free downloads.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Ramanathan.

Found the link for the one by Nagam Aiya: http://www.archive.org/stream/travancorestate00aiyagoog

[Pratyaksham Bala]

"Life of Sir Thomas Munro" published in 1849, is available at:-
http://books.google.com/books?id=c3IBAA ... &q&f=false
Various letters written by Munro to his family, and extracts from his Journal, are given in this book.