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Ammachi Panapillai Amma was the title held by the consort of the ruling Maharajah of Travancore as well as those of other title-holding male members of the Travancore Royal Family.[1]
Its literal translation is 'consort' since as per the formerly existent matriarchal system in Travancore, the Maharajah's sister was the Maharani, and not his wife. Thus the wife, a non-royal, took the title of Ammachi Panapillai Amma.[2]
The Ammachis were mostly from families of the Nair nobility. The Maharajahs married these ladies through the Sambandham form of wedlock known as Pattum Parivattavum.