Darsanakalanidhi Parikshith Thampuran (died 1964) was the last official ruler of the Cochin princely state. He was also known as Ramavarman or Kunjunni Tampuran. He was born in 1876 as the son of Raman Nambutiri of Ottur House and Manku Tampuratti. On 1 July 1949,

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

and

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

merged, Travancore-Cochin State came into existence, and the kingdom and the rulership came to an end. He ruled the kingdom for a period of one year and then he continued as the Valliya Thampuran of Cochin. He died in 1964 while he was in

Thrippunithura Thrippunithura or Tripunithura (), is a prominent historical and residential region in the City of Kochi in Kerala, India. Located about 7 km (4 mi) from the city centre, Tripunithura was the capital of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin ...

. He was married to Ittyanath Madathil Madhavi from Ittyanath family Villadom, Thrissur. Madhavi was the step daughter of his uncle Rama Varma XVII and Parukutty Nethyaramma (Ittyanath Madathil Parukutty).

Coronation

Parikshith Thampuran had his coronation on the grounds of the Durbar Hall in Ernakulam in August, 1948. This was away from the convention that the coronation was to be held at the A''riyittuvazhcha Kovilakam'' in Mattancherry.

Work

Thampuran was a Sanskrit scholar of supreme rank. He also wrote many

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Kāvya Kāvya (Devanagari: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing between c.200 BCE and 1200 CE. This literary style, which includes both poetry and prose, is characterised by a ...

, like

Prahlādacharita Prahlādacharitam (or Prahlādacharita) is a Sanskrit Kavya, written in ''Champu'' style by the Sanskrit scholar ''Darsanakalanidhi'' Rama Varma Parikshith Thampuran (former Maharaja of Cochin). It is the story of Asura prince Prahlāda, who w ...

.He was an authority on Nyaya and wrote commentaries on several literary works, besides composing original Sanskrit works of his own. Rulers of Cochin 1964 deaths Year of birth missing {{india-royal-stub