Location
- The southernmost state of Travancore had always maintained its independence from Mughal rule.
Travancore During Maranda Varma
- It gained importance after 1729 when its king Maranda Varma started expanding his dominions with the help of a strong and modern army trained along Western lines and equipped with modern weapons.
- The Dutch were ousted from the region; the English were made to accept his terms of trade; local feudal chiefs were suppressed; and smaller principalities governed by collateral branches of the royal family were taken over.
Mysore Invasion
- Travancore withstood the shock of a Mysorean invasion in 1766 and under Martanda Varma’s successor Rama Varma, its capital, Trivandrum, became a centre of scholarship and art.
Later Days of Travancore
- After his death towards the closing years of the eighteenth century, the region lost its former glory and soon succumbed to British pressure, accepting a Resident in 1800.