Books
God’s Own Empire – The Extraordinary Life Of MARTHANDA VARMA Of Travancore By RAGHU PALAT PUSHPA PALAT
Marthanda Varma broke that cycle. His decisive defeat of the Dutch at Colachel gave him room to crush the Ettuveetil Pillamar nobles, subdue rebellious chiefs, centralize power and launch reforms that made Travancore the strongest kingdom in southern India.
A Kingdom Like No Other: The Buried Legacy of Marthanda Varma
Before Marthanda’s rise, Travancore was a minor state. Its ruler was powerless before temple priests and scheming nobles, and its lands were vulnerable to the Dutch and other colonial forces. The state’s wealth lay locked in temple vaults while its kings were figureheads trapped by custom.
Marthanda Varma broke that cycle. His decisive defeat of the Dutch at Colachel gave him room to crush the Ettuveetil Pillamar nobles, subdue rebellious chiefs, centralize power and launch reforms that made Travancore the strongest kingdom in southern India. Yet his name faded from textbooks and was erased from the grand narrative of Indian history
Why This Book Matters
God’s Own Empire restores Marthanda Varma to his rightful place as the only Indian king to defeat a European power, the architect of modern Travancore, and the ruler who redefined kingship itself by bowing before his god. His story rewrites our understanding of empire, faith and leadership in India.
Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat reveal this epic through painstaking research, mining palace records, temple documents and Dutch archives to resurrect a saga that vanished from public memory. This is not just a biography; it is a reclamation of history.
About The Authors
Raghu Palat is no stranger to uncovering hidden narratives. A veteran banker and financial consultant, he brings a historian’s curiosity to the past, digging deeper than official records to unearth the untold. The author of over forty-five books on banking, finance, and taxation, Raghu’s fascination with India’s overlooked stories makes this work as much a revelation as a retelling.
Pushpa Palat is a writer with an eye for detail and the unusual. A journalist for over four decades, she has explored everything from luxury travel to lifestyle, but history remains her enduring passion. Her ability to knit fact with feeling adds rare depth to this account of Marthanda Varma’s lost empire.