Source:  in.news.yahoo.com

Book: ‘Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny’ – Autobiography: Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the former king (as told to Uma Maheswari); Publisher: Konark Publishers; Price: Rs.2,000

In 1924, when Mahatma Gandhi asked young Chithira Tirunal, the 12-year-old prince of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in Kerala, if he would remove untouchability and throw open the temples to all castes when he became king, the boy answered, ‘Of course’. And he lived up to his word.

The former princely state of Travancore in Kerala, a staunch Hindu bastion, has always stood apart from the rest of 19th century royal India for its progressive ideas and non-alignment which were way ahead of its time.

Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, 88, the last ruler of Travancore, gives many glimpses of life as it was then in the first-ever autobiography of a former ruler from the erstwhile princely state, in ‘Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny’.

When Chithira Tirunal met Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 at the Pattom Palace, the prince was accompanied by his regent mother Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi. As promised, on his 25th birthday, Nov 12, 1936, the prince issued the Temple Entry Proclamation, which was a landmark event in the history of India.

The momentous decision that allowed devotees cutting across caste lines to enter an upper caste Hindu shrine set a precedent in India.

The autobiography, which chronicles all the major events in India and in Kerala since the birth of the surviving former ‘Rajah’ throws rare insights into Kerala’s engagement with the rest of the country – and the 20th century world at large – during the British Raj and post- Independence.

It is also a testimony to Kerala’s rich cultural heritage through detailed descriptions of the state’s festivals, palace rites, religion and life inside the portals of the ornate palace.

Central to the book, however, is the spiritual driving force of the 12th century (former) royal state – a temple of Lord Padmanabha, an incarnation of Mahavishnu – the presiding deity of Travancore.

The book, which has a foreword by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is divided into 11 chapters that covers Travancore and its heritage, the Vishnu temples and its rituals, birth and childhood of the Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the life of his parents, Travancore’s military tradition, the royal weddings and the power shift to democracy.

The short texts are accompanied by rare pictures from the royal archives and blurbs to highlight important events.

The book, dictated by the 88-year-old former king to Kerala-based journalist-writer Uma Maheshwari, will be released by Abdul Kalam Jan 5.

Maheshwari, whose forefathers migrated to Thiruvananthapuram centuries ago to serve the temple of Padmanabhaswami, says ‘humility was the hallmark of the erstwhile Travancore royalty’.

The former south Indian principality, one of the most ancient in India dating back to the Chera dynasty, was spread across 7,625 sq miles with a coastline 168 miles.