Sethu Parvathi Bayi

Sethu Parvathi Bayi was born on 7 November 1896 the daughter of Thiruvathira Nal Bhageerathi Bayi Uma Kochukunji Amma Thampuratty of the Utsavamadom branch of the Mavelikkara Royal House and Sri Thiruvonam Nal Kerala Varma Thampuran of Paliyakkara Eastern Palace. She had four brothers and three sisters. Two of her sisters, Srimathi Avittam Nal Bhawani Amma Thampuratty (artist and illustrator) and Srimathi Makayiram Nal Rajamma Amma Thampuratty (landscape artist under the name Amma Thampuran) were artists. Sethu Parvathi Bayi's grandmother belonged to the Kolathunad royal house in Travancore. Srimathi Makayiram Nal Rajamma Amma Thampuratty's grand daughter, Lekha Varma, was also adopted into the Travancore Royal house in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

Sethu Parvathy Bayi was also the younger grand daughter of the world-renowned artist Sri Raja Ravi Varma of the Kilimanoor Palace. The Mavelikkara royal house was closely associated with the Travancore Royal Family as her great-aunts, the then Senior and Junior Queens of Travancore, had been adopted and installed into the Royal Family of Travancore in 1858. This adoption, which was the sixth in the Travancore Royal House, was without results as the Senior Queen Lakshmi Bayi, who was married to Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran, was childless while the Junior Queen Parvathi Bayi had only sons. As the Travancore Royal Family follows matrilineal inheritance, the presence of females to continue the line and dynasty is crucial. With the death of the Junior Queen and her sons between 1893 and 1895, the royal family came to consist solely of Maharajah Moolam Thirunal, Senior Queen Lakshmi Bayi, and her two nephews. The Senior Queen decided to adopt the daughters of her nieces, Mahaprabha and Kochukunji of Mavelikara Utsavamadhom Palace, into the Travancore Royal Family.

In 1900, Maharani Lakshmi Bayi petitioned Maharajah Moolam Thirunal for the adoption of her grand nieces, to perpetuate the ruling line. Thus, she became Princess Moolam Thirunal Sethu Parvathi Bayi, the First Princess of Travancore. The adoption itself was met with some opposition from other branches of the Kolathunad family who nominated females from their families. There were also objections from the First Prince Chathayam Thirunal Rama Varma, but these were overcome due to the insistence of the Senior Queen of Travancore. But after a year the Senior Queen Lakshmi Bayi died in 1901 and five-year-old Sethu Parvathi Bayi was elevated to the position of H. H. Sree Padmanbhasevini Maharani Moolam Thirunal Sethu Parvathi Bayi, Junior Maharani of Attingal. Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran, consort of the late Senior Maharani (Queen) Lakshmi Bayi, was appointed the guardian of the two minor Queens and tutors were appointed to teach them.^{[4] [5]}

At the age of ten, according to the prevalent tradition, alliances were sought for Sethu Parvathi Bayi's marriage. A select group of young men of high accomplishments were presented to her. She chose the twenty-one-year-old graduate, and Sanskrit scholar, Sri Pooram Nal Ravi Varma Thampuran of the Kilimanoor royal house, after being impressed by his erudition and his high level of education (college graduates were a rarity in those days). Their wedding took place in 1907; when she turned fourteen in 1911, their marriage was consummated. In 1912, on her sixteenth birthday, she gave birth to her eldest son, the then Crown Prince, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruling Maharajah (King) of Travancore. Thus she became the Queen Mother at the age of fifteen. Sethu Parvathi Bayi gave birth to three more children. Her second child, a baby girl, was stillborn. Her other children were Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi and Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma.^[6]