TALES FROM THE CAPITAL CITY – 148

 Between Two Courts: Art, Identity, and an Unfinished Story

The Kerala Museum @keralamuseum in Edapally houses a distinguished collection of paintings by contemporaries and key followers of Raja Ravi Varma. Among these, one artwork that is particularly compelling is a portrait of a matriarch from the Cochin royal family.

This painting is frequently misattributed as a portrait of Kalyanikutty Ammachi of Nagercoil Ammaveedu, consort of Maharajah Ayilyam Tirunal of Travancore. However, it is, in fact, the work of Mangala Bayi Tampuratti, the younger sister of Raja Ravi Varma. A fine example of Mangala Bayi’s refined artistic sensibilities from the early 1900s, the painting depicts Ikku Amma Tampuran (Subhadra Tampuran), a distinguished scholar and prolific composer in Sanskrit and Malayalam.

Ikku Amma Tampuran, portrait by Mangala Bayi Tampuratti,
Kerala Museum Collection.

Ikku Amma Tampuran (1844–1921) was the daughter of Kunjipilla Amma Tampuran and Kunju Namboothiripad of Koodalattupuram Illam. While the precise circumstances surrounding the commission remain unclear, this portrait—along with another of Ikku Amma’s daughter, Manku Tampuran (held in a private collection), painted by K.R. Ravi Varma (Mangala Bayi’s son)—suggests a close relationship between the Kilimanur and Cochin royal families.

An old group photograph from Ravi Varma’s studio further highlights this connection. It features Ikku Amma Tampuran seated at the center, with her daughters on either side (Manku Tampuran seated to her left) and her two sons standing behind her. Among them, the young man positioned behind her to the left is Kerala Varma VII, popularly known as Aikya Keralam Tampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin (r.1946–1948). A visionary ruler, he was a leading proponent of the unification of Kerala, advocating for the merger of British Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore into a single state for Malayalam-speaking people.

 Ikku Amma Tampuran with her sons and daughters, c. 1915
© The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma, OUP.

Despite these connections, one question remains: why did Ravi Varma, the most celebrated artist of his era, never paint a single portrait of the Cochin royals? Was his formal affiliation with the Travancore court as the ‘Court Painter’ a constraint that prevented him from accepting commissions from the Cochin royals? Or was there another, unknown reason lost to history?

Sharat Sunder R

07.04.2025.