| Queen Umayamma | |
|---|---|
| Regent of Venad[1] Queen of Attingal Queen of Quilon | |
_(cropped).jpg) Queen Umayamma | |
| Regent of Venad[1] | |
| Reign | 1677 - 1684[2] |
| Predecessor | Aditya Varma |
| Successor | Ravi Varma |
| House | Royal Family of Venad |
| Religion | Hinduism |
"Aswathi Thirunal" Umayamma, known as Queen Umayamma or Queen Ashure (Aswathi),[3] (died 1698), was the regent queen of Venad (Venatu)[1] in southern India from 1677 to 1684[2] on behalf of her young nephew (son of her older sister Senior Queen Makayiram Thirunal) Ravi Varma. She also served as the Junior Queen of Attingal under Senior Queen Makayiram Thirunal and subsequently as the Senior Queen of Attingal.[4][5]
While Ravi Varma ruled as the king of Trippapoor (1684-1718), Umayamma continued retention of the sovereign power over his swaroopam. She was able to negotiate independently with the English and Dutch factors in Kerala.[4][3] The English East India Company secured factory sites at Vilinjam (Brinhjohn), and Ruttera (either Valiyathura or Vettoor) from Umayamma in 1688.[3] Permission to construct a fort at Anjengo was secured from the queen in 1694. Umayamma also concluded an agreement with the Danes at Edava, near Attingal[4][3]
As per historian K. V. K. Ayyar, Queen Umayamma built the administrative foundation on which her grandson Marthanda Varma built modern Travancore.[5] Dutch commander Henrik van Rheede (who met Umayamma in 1677) writing in 1694, concludes that Attingal could summon an army of 30,000 men at the time.[4][3] Umayamma died in 1698 in Valiyathura.[3][4]
- ^ a b c A. Sreedhara Menon. "Kerala History and its Makers" DC Books (Kottayam) 2016 [1] Archived 21 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Markus P. M. Vink. "Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century" (2015) BRILL [2]
- ^ a b c d e f Papers and articles. "Holding Kings to Ransom – Royal Women in Matrilineal Kerala": Manu S. Pillai (2015) [3]
- ^ a b c d e Lakshi Raghunandan. "The Life and Times of Maharani Setu Lakshmi Bayi, the Last Queen of Travancore". Maharani Setu Lakshmi Memorial Charitable Trust. Bangalore (1995)
- ^ a b K. V. Krishna Ayyar. "A Short History of Kerala" (1966) . Pai and Company (Cochin) India [4]