TALES FROM THE CAPITAL CITY – 144

  ENGLISH SUBBA RAO AND SATRAM SCHOOL

Dewan Subba Rao

The Govt. Fort U.P. School, Manacaud, popular among the locals as 'Satram School', is a grand heritage edifice located on the eastern end of the Ramavarmapuram Gramom (Sreevaraham). Despite being a popular landmark, the locals are hardly aware of its history. They maintain that the expansive two-story building was formerly a Satram, and it's where young T. Madhava Rao was first lodged when he came to Travancore in 1849 as 'Tutor' to the nephews of Rajah Uthram Tirunal Martanda Varma.

Undoubtedly the most distinguished Maratha Brahmin to serve Travancore, Madhava Rao was but one among the many Paradesi Brahmins, who occupied coveted administrative positions in the State from the early 19th century. A brilliant bureaucrat, it did not take the young tutor to secure a dominant place in the administrative machinery, and in 1857 he secured the enviable post of Dewan (prime minister) of Travancore.

Credited for reforming the Travancore administrative system in modern lines, Madhava Rao orientated the Princely State towards an era of Colonial modernity. While the residents of Thiruvananthapuram still remember him with gratitude (thanks to the life-size statue of Rao right at the heart of the city), the history of the Satram goes well beyond Madhava Rao, to the reign of the celebrated Rajah Swathi Tirunal Rama Varma (r.1829-1846).

The Huzur records reveal that the mansion was actually constructed in the 1840s as the residence of Dewan 'English Subbrow' (alias Tanjore Subba Rao), who, like Sir T. Madhava Rao, started career in Travancore as a 'Tutor' to the young princes, Swathi Tirunal and his brother Uthram Tirunal.

A record from 1015 M.E. (c.1840 C.E.) mentions the amount accorded to purchase land in Ramavarmapuram for constructing a house for Dewan Subba Rao. Another record from 1018 M.E. (c.1843 C.E.) details the location of the mansion—on the central street, towards the eastern end of the Ramavarmapuram Gramom—as well as the amount sanctioned for the purchase of gifts on the occasion of house warming ceremony. The second record is particularly useful as it dispels any confusion regarding identifying the Satram School as Subba Rao’s residence.

The Satram School, Ramavarmapuram Gramom

With its robust cornice, arches, and moulded balusters, the building distinguishes itself from other structures of the era. Rather than exhibiting an affinity to the local construction practices, the Satram borrows architectural elements from the 18th and 19th century mansions of Tanjore and Madurai, where the neoclassical paradigm blends with the heavy stucco moulding.

English Subba Rao (b.1775-d.1848), the tutor from Tanjore, had lived a remarkable life. Before he became the Dewan of Travancore, Rao had a commendable career in Tanjore court of Rajah Serfoji II. A polyglot, Subba Rao served as tutor to three Travancore kings and authored the first play (Kishun Koovur) written by an Indian in the English language. Rahul Sagar, in his latest book 'Krishna Kumari, The Tragedy of India', shares previously unknown details of Subba Rao’s life. Check out the book for more details.

TALES FROM THE CAPITAL CITY – 143

  GIFTS FIT FOR A QUEEN

The Queen's Jubilee presents displayed in the Waterloo Chamber, Windsor Castle © Royal Collection Trust.

Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee festivities in 1887 provided the Indian Maharajahs with yet another magnificent opportunity to demonstrate their steadfast allegiance to the British crown. The royals took good advantage of the occasion as usual, competing to present the Queen with the best gifts.

A detailed account of the Jubilee Celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Travancore, is found in the personal diaries of a government official named M. Veloo Pillai. A staunch diarist, Pillai lists the important events: "The native officers were invited for a feast at Padmavilasom, the Dewan's mansion, whereas the Europeans had a State Dinner at Huzur Cutcherry. A grand durbar was held to receive the 'Khareeta' from the Governor's office, and the museum grounds became the venue for many celebrations and games aimed at entertaining the younger population. The poor and needy were not forgotten; they too were fed on these days of pomp and festivities."

Among the other important events, Pillai records a generous donation made by the Maharajah towards the 'Imperial Institute' (London) and the 'Technical Institute' (Madras), and the Attingal Elaya Tampuran addressed a crowd of women when she made a speech on Queen Victoria's life and contributions. "Around two months after this," writes Pillai, "a portrait of the Travancore Maharani was sent to the Queen as a gift." This painting by Raja Ravi Varma, titled “The Presentation of a Jubilee Address to Queen Victoria” (signed and dated 1887), can still be found in the British royal collection.

'The Presentation of a Jubilee Address to Queen Victoria', by Ravi Varma © Royal Collection Trust.

Detail showing Ravi Varma's painting © Royal Collection Trust.

Pillai then proceeds to give us a brief account of other valuable gifts Maharajah Mulam Tirunal Rama Varma (r.1885-1924) had sent to the Queen; the three royal gifts, according to Pillai, were "made of elephant ivory and ebony."

Unlike the Ravi Varma painting, the history of the Golden Jubilee gifts has not been well documented. Some sources incorrectly report the gifts as those sent by Maharajah Uthram Tirunal Martanda Varma (r.1847-1860), who had sent the famed 'Ivory State Chair'/'Ivory Throne' to the Great London Exhibition of 1851. However, a photograph in the Royal Collection Trust titled “Golden Jubilee gifts arranged in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor” (RCIN 2916023) gives a rare glimpse of the Golden Jubilee gift from Travancore.

The ‘Register of Kentucky State Historical Society’ (May 1903) offers the ‘official description’ of the two gifts as follows:

1. Pair of elephant's tusks mounted on a buffalo's head carved in ebony which is supported on four griffins. The tusks are supported higher up by a cross-bar of ebony and resting on the heads of four figures representing some of the incarnations of Vishnu. Rushing from the projecting ends of the cross-bar to the tusks are two griffins with two elephants under them linking their trunks. In the center of the bar is a 16 handed figure of Shive (Shiva), standing on the prostrate form of an abamaram (apasmaram) or fiend. All figures are ebony.

2. Pair of elephant's tusks mounted as flower vases on a stand of rosewood covered with ivory mounted with gold and entwined by a pepper vine in fruit worked in gold. The vases are supported on two elephant's heads carved in ebony and rising from out of a base of rock and jungle worked in ivory and elephant’s teeth. The trunks of the elephants support a lotus of ivory on which is seated a golden image of Lukshine (Lakshmi) the goddess of prosperity.

Detail showing the gift from Travancore © Royal Collection Trust.

The exquisitely carved royal gift made of ivory and ebony.

The Jubilee presents and the Ivory State Chair presented in 1851 were among the star exhibits at the World’s Fair Louisiana, 1904, where they were exhibited at the Washington University building.

Writing on the fabulous assemblage of the priceless exhibits, a reviewer observes thus: “These Indian presents are interesting not merely on account of the precious metals and rare woods in which they are often worked but on account of their showing how in recent years the native art of India has been influenced by European ideas. At the same time, the collection contained many examples of Indian art in its most characteristic and unaffected form. They include richly illuminated addresses enclosed in costly and elaborate caskets of gold, silver, ivory or iron damascened with gold and silver; carvings in rare jade, sandal-wood, ebony, and gold; royal saddler, chairs of state, and elephant’s tusks of great size.

The presents exhibited comprised only a small proportion of thousands sent from every part of the Empire now included in the Royal Collections at Buckingham Palace Windsor Castle Osborne and Sandringham.”

Queen Victoria's Jubilee Presents (the ivory state chair in the center was gifted to the Queen in 1851) exhibited at World's Fair Louisiana.

The assessment is all the more interesting and relevant considering the evident Western influence in all walks of native life since the mid-nineteenth century. For instance, Ravi Varma’s art was founded on Indian ethos, but the artist adopted Western technique and medium to manifest it. However, the gilded figurine of Goddess Lakshmi, depicted as seated on the lotus, strictly adheres to the traditional system of Hindu religious iconography. As observed by the reviewer, it remains a fine example of Indian art in its “most characteristic and unaffected form.”

Sharat Sunder Rajeev

30.06.2024.