The story of Lalitamba Bayi and Kerala Varma is no ordinary love story. It tells of many political machinations and the slow unravelling of the matrilineal court in Travancore
Makarand R Paranjape, director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, is the author of the forthcoming book Swami Vivekananda: Hinduism and India’s Road to Modernity. Views are personal
Sumantra Bose is Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His next book, Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey, and the Future of Secularism, will be published in early 2018 by Cambridge University Press