Regional Cartographies in CV’s Marthandavarma

C.V. Raman Pillai’s Marthandavarma stands as a foundational work in Malayalam historical fiction, yet its significance extends beyond literary achievement into the realm of cultural geography. This paper examines the novel as an act of regional imagination, where narrative becomes a tool for constructing regional cartographies—not just geographical, but also historical, cultural, and ideological. By fictionalising the political transition in 18th-century Travancore, Pillai enacts a literary reclamation of space and identity, embedding a proto-nationalist sentiment within a distinctly local context. The novel resists colonial historiography by foregrounding native landscapes, vernacular ethos, and regional heroism. Through a close reading of spatial markers, political allegories, and characterisation, this study highlights how Marthandavarma configures a symbolic cartography that negotiates between history and myth, power and resistance.