This book is based on my larger work on Travancore (in English) published at the beginning of this year. It places on record a brief summary of the salient features of modern progress which is contemporaneous with the assumption of the direct Government of India by Her late illustrious Majesty, Victoria the Good, and the first Imperial Assemblage at Delhi for declaration of the same. The auspicious occasion of the 2nd Imperial Assemblage in connection with the Coronation of her son and successor, His Majesty King Edward VII, affords an opportunity of taking stock of the progress made during the period comprised within these two epoch-making events. And since, of the 26 years of which it is made up, eighteen years belong to His Highness the present Maharajah's most beneficent reign, the book is called after the name of His Highness who fulfils the tradition of His illustrious Royal House and combines at once in his own person "the virtues of an enlightened Ruler and a learned Statesman, a Patron of letters and Promoter of Science and Arts." The publication of the book on this day when the thoughts and feelings of the entire population are centred on His Highness, in view of the fact that His Highness enters upon the 47th year of his birth and the 19th year of his benevolent reign, may, in addition to being an avowal of gratitude and an expression of universal joy, be regarded as a keepsake from the manifold blessings the country has enjoyed under his peaceful sway. I cannot express better my most grateful and heartfelt acknowledgments to His Highness for the many acts of kindness graciously done to me, than by dedicating this book to His Highness the Maharaja. I am thankful to my former teacher, Mr. P. Aiyappan Pillai B. A., Educational Secretary to Government, for his uniform aid and advice in this as well as in other literary works I have published. My thanks are also due to Mr. Chithambara Vadhyar B. A., for his valuable assistance. I should not omit to thank the ‘Malabar Mail’ Press for the neat and prompt execution of the Work.
| Trivandrum 28. 9. 03. |
S. RAMANATH AIYER. |
