his aunt / foster mother and his father, a Sanskrit scholar, who was well versed in music. He took particular care of his education. It is said that Col. Munro has taken a keen interest in his education too. At the age of six, he began learning Malayalam and Sanskrit, and at the age of seven, English. The young Prince had studied several languages including Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Hindustani, Telugu , Marathi, Sanskrit, English, and Persian.
At the age of seventeen, Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma took over Travancore 's reins from his aunt, Gowri Parvati Bayi . His tutor, Sri Subba Rao, was appointed as the Prime Minister (Diwan). One of his first moves was to move the Secretariat of Government from Kollam (about 75 km away) to Thiruvananthapuram. This enabled him to pay personal attention to state affairs.He took measures to eradicate government corruption, and even asked the Diwan to resign when he learned that the Diwan had been behaving in support of a specific party in a land dispute. In 1834, he started an English school in Thiruvananthapuram, which came to be called Government Free School of the Maharajah and later became Maharajah's High School and then Maharajah 's College. It is now the College of Universities. In many other places similar schools were started later. He has also implemented legal sector reforms, initiating Munsif, District, and Appellate Courts, and modernizing laws.He identified one of Malabar's Kandan Menons, and appointed him as Huzoor Diwan Peshkar for legal reform. Another of his accomplishments was to settle many land disputes by conducting a resurvey of the land, in which Menon also helped. He also made the first state census in 1836. According to the census Travancore 's population was 128,068.
Swathi Thirunal also played an important part in bringing modern medicine to the state. He appointed a European physician to the palace. He was also given the responsibility of providing local people with medical assistance, for which hospitals had been started. It is this post, which was known as Surgeon General until Kerala State was formed. He also started a department of engineering, placed under the command of one Lieutenant Horsley. It was then that the Karamana Bridge was constructed.In 1829, at the age of seventeen, Maharajah Swathi Thirunal married Thiruvattar Ammachi Panapillai Amma Srimathi Ayikutty Narayani Pillai Thankachi, a famous beauty of the Ammaveedu family of Thiruvattar, an expert Carnatic singer and player of Veena.
As a monarch, Swathi Thirunal was extremely hardworking and committed to his kingdom and to his people. General Cullen 's appointment as Travancore's resident was the beginning of the end for the Maharajah. To compound his problems, the Maharajah was distracted by the deaths of his elder sister, father, wife Narayani and all three children (Narayani's). Increasingly he sought solitude and isolation and weakened his mind and body. Thus, on 26 December 1846 Maharajah Swathi Thirunal died at the age of 33.