Rama Varma Kochaniyan Thampuran (1912–2014) was an Indian royal associated with the Cochin royal family of Kerala. He is also recorded among Indian cricketers of the early twentieth century, with his life spanning more than a century from the late princely era through the post-Independence period.
| Name | Rama Varma Kochaniyan Thampuran |
|---|---|
| Born | 1912 |
| Died | 2014 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Member of an Indian royal house; cricketer |
| Region | Kerala, South India |
The title Thampuran is traditionally used by male members of the Kerala royal houses, including the Cochin (Kochi) and Travancore families. Members of these matrilineal houses inherited rank through the female line, and male Thampurans often pursued interests in scholarship, the arts, temple administration, and sport. Cricket, introduced through colonial contact and princely patronage, became a notable pastime among such families during the early twentieth century.
Born in 1912, Rama Varma Kochaniyan Thampuran lived through the final decades of princely rule in the Cochin State, the integration of the princely states into the Indian Union after 1947, the formation of Kerala in 1956, and the subsequent decades of independent India. He took part in cricket during a period when princely patronage played a significant role in the development of the sport in India, before the establishment of fully professional structures under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
His long life of 102 years places him among the longer-lived figures associated with Indian princely heritage and early Indian cricket. Figures like him represent the transition of princely-era sportsmen into the modern era of Indian sport, and reflect the continuing cultural presence of the Cochin royal family in twentieth-century Kerala.