Musings from Antique Origins

An old painting on Suttee S ati , (it means, a chaste woman. Suttee is an English corruption of this word)) was the ancient practice among some north Indian Hindu communities in which the widowed woman immolated herself in the husband’s funeral pyre. The barbaric custom existed over two millennia till the early part of the 19th century. Though many attempts, over centuries, had been made to forbid the practice, it was Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, the Governor General of India between AD 1827 and 1835, who passed a regulation ,despite fierce opposition, and declared that all who abetted Suttee were “ guilty of culpable homicide.” Widow sacrifice has not been peculiar to India alone. E. B. Tylor in his Primitive Culture has provided evidences of such rites among all primitive Aryan nations. The purpose of this note is not to dwell on the history or the other ritualistic aspects of Suttee, but to bring to the notice of the readers of an eyewitness’s account of an actual rite ...

The Great Exhibition , London AD 1851 Curious about the documents pertaining to Travancore history, I chanced upon an original print of the Illustrated London News of 31st January 1852, which featured the engraving of the reception by HH Maharajah of Travancore to the Letter from HM Queen Victoria. The above photo shows the sketch of the Durbar in which the then Maharajah of Travancore, HH Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma receives the letter of HM the Queen Victoria from the British Resident , Major General W. Cullen. The reception took place on 27th November 1851. A report on the function, as it appeared in the Illustrated London News also is shown . The details on the same could be summarized as under: Around AD 1850, Prince Albert, the Royal Consort of Queen Victoria, conceived the idea of a great Exhibition in London, primarily to showcase England as the leader of the industrial revolution. Also the exposition was intended to project the military, economic and technological prowe...

It is to be admitted that the availability of historical documents, pictures, photographs and other tools for better understanding of our past is rather limited when we consider the history of Travancore and Cochin. Notwithstanding the sincere attempts made by a few of our historians, and other enthusiasts, the desired level of documentations is still elusive. In this context, I thought it appropriate to bring the following sheets of history for the information of those interested. The enclosed photo shows the engraving from an original print of over 150 years old, taken from The Illustrated London News Vol XXV of 5th August 1854 titled “Opening of a New Bridge at Travancore - The Rajah's State Procession.” Full text of the reporting could be seen from the second photograph taken from the print. This shows the opening of the new bridge over the Karamana river in Trivandrum by the then Maharajah, Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma who reigned between AD 1846 and 1860. He had succeeded...

My mom celebrated her eightieth birthday on 24th February 2008, at our ancestral house, Parimanathu Kovilakom in Cherthala in the Alleppey District of Kerala. Eightieth birthday is also known as Aseethy, in Sanskrit. Nalini Rama Varma In earlier days, on popular occasions like marriages, Shashtiabdapoorthy (Sixtieth birthday) , Sathabhishekam (Eighty-fourth birthday having seen one thousand full moons) etc, lyrical best wishes, known popularly as “ Mangala Pathram ” in Malayalam, used to be read in praise of the subject by relatives or acquaintances with poetic skills. This time, Dinesa Varma of Kattil Kovilakom, Thiruvizha who is a cousin, taken to spirituality and blessed with poetic skills,-presently known as Acharya Sree Visakham Thirunal- wrote and read the following “Mangala Pathram ”which was greatly appreciated by all those assembled there. My duty here is to reproduce the same below for those interested. Just as the many finer aspects of life go unnoticed, the art and h...