PK Kerala Varma

PK Kerala Varma was the Zamorin Raja of Kozhikode, the ceremonial head of the family that once ruled the Calicut kingdom on India's Malabar coast. He died early on Tuesday 8 September 2026, aged 90, at a private hospital in Kozhikode after two months of treatment. The hospital name and the cause of death were not made public. Some Malayalam outlets said he was 89. The published birth date of 3 September 1936 means he had turned 90 five days earlier. Onmanorama, The New Indian Express, The South First and Gulf News report age 90. This profile uses 1936-09-03 and age 90, and records the 89 figure as a conflict in the day's reports, not as a second birth date.

He was born on 3 September 1936 and belonged to the Thekkekettu branch of Thiruvannur Puthiyakovilakam, also called Puthiya Kovilakam, at Thiruvannur in Kozhikode. A separate hospital or village of birth is not stated in the obituaries. His mother was Sridevi Varma, also spelled Sreedevi Varma, of Ambadi Kovilakam, the house where the senior women of the Zamorin family live. His father was Balarama Varma of Nedumbram Palace in Thiruvalla. The palace name is also spelled Nedumpram. Obituaries remember his mother for a gesture in the freedom movement. During Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Kozhikode she took a gold bangle from her hand and gave it to Gandhi. Kerala Kaumudi also reports that she took part in the Maarumarakkal strike.

He completed Intermediate studies at Zamorin's College, also published as Samoothiri College, then took a pharmacy degree at L.M. College of Pharmacy in Ahmedabad, published as L.M. Pharmacy College and L M College of Pharmacy. The year of either qualification, a class of degree, and any further university study are not made public. After Ahmedabad he worked at the German Remedies factory in Mumbai. He then returned to Kozhikode and served for two years as a non-medical tutor in the Pharmacy Department of Kozhikode Medical College. He founded Narnyatt Pharmaceuticals at the West Hill Industrial Estate. The factory later moved to Naduvattom in Beypore. Mathrubhumi and Kerala Kaumudi spell the firm Narniat. It became known for making and exporting medicines, including antibiotics. He received Central government and Kerala state government awards for excellence in exports. The published reports do not name the specific prizes, the years, or the ministries. The New Indian Express records that R. Venkataraman, later President of India and then a member of the Planning Commission, visited the company. The year of that visit is not given.

In industry he was president of the Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association in Kozhikode and an executive member of the Small Scale Industries Association, also called the Small Industries Association. He sat on a committee of the Central Export Promotion Council that studied industrial development and export opportunities in nine countries, including Australia. He advised traditional medicine houses including Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, Oushadhi and Vaidyamadham. Onmanorama spells the last as Vaidyamatam. With the state government's Filariasis Research Centre he joined a model project in the Lakshadweep islands. The team distributed curry salt mixed with anti-filarial medicine to limit the spread of filariasis.

For several years he lived in an apartment at Chinthavalappu in Kozhikode. India Times Now, in a report dated 8 September 2026, says he took charge as head of the Zamorin family in June 2025 after the death of K.C. Ramachandran Raja, a management expert whose time at the head lasted only a couple of months. A 2026 Kerala High Court record described in legal reporting refers to a Kozhikode District Collector order of 26 June 2025 on the Malikhana allowance, with Kerala Varma claiming succession as the then Zamorin Raja. The exact day in June 2025 on which he assumed the title is not given in the obituaries themselves. K.C. Ramachandran Raja is named as predecessor, not as a relative.

As Zamorin he is remembered less for ceremony than for a change in how the family ran its public institutions. He proposed, and helped install, a 21-member governing council to administer about 45 temples under Zamorin Management, together with schools and colleges including Guruvayurappan College, Zamorin's High School and Zamorin's Higher Secondary School. The older practice had been administration by the Zamorin and members of his household. The council brought together representatives of the three Zamorin kovilakams of the Nediyiruppu Swarupam. Onmanorama lists the first five dignitaries of the Swarupam (the Zamorin Raja, Eralppad Raja, Munnalppad Raja, Edathralppad Raja and Naduthralppad Raja), the senior-most woman of the Swarupam from Ambadi Kovilakam, the senior-most women of the three kovilakams, the three senior-most men of the kovilakams, and three representatives from each kovilakam. The council oversees appointments, renovation and other major decisions. The year of that reform is not dated in the obituaries.

A devotee of Sree Valayanadu Devi Temple and an alumnus of Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College later filed a High Court writ asking the court to stop Malikhana, a hereditary payment rooted in an 1806 covenant with the East India Company, and to restrain Kerala Varma from authority over temples and colleges. The petition also alleged financial liabilities. Legal reports say the court dismissed the petition, held that the allowance dispute fell under Article 363 of the Constitution, found the petitioner lacked standing, and imposed costs of 10,000 rupees payable to the High Court Mediation Centre. Those reports do not record a finding that the allegations against him were proved. The petitioner is named in legal reporting as Sanoop V.V. A representation in that writ is dated 19 October 2025 in the same reporting. The exact judgment date is not taken from the court order itself here. The dismissal is reported as about January 2026.

He is survived by his wife, Jayasree Varma, also spelled Jayashree, of Nedumbram Palace in Thiruvalla, and by two children. The New Indian Express and Onmanorama name the daughter Suneethi Raja, a translator and book editor based in Delhi. Kerala Kaumudi and the Malayalam Manorama report call her Sunitha Raja. Mathrubhumi uses Sunidhi Raja. Their son is Dr K. Sujith Varma, principal of National College of Pharmacy, KMCT, also called KMCT College of Pharmacy. The New Indian Express names K.C. Ravindran Raja, also printed K C Ravindra Raja, an official in the Union Ministry of Environment, and R. Divya, a teacher at Koyilandy Government M.V. Higher Secondary School, as son-in-law and daughter-in-law without assigning which spouse belongs to which child. Siblings named by The New Indian Express are Indira Ravivarma, Saraswathi Varma and the late Sethu Varma. A wedding date and grandchildren are not made public.

His body was brought to the Chinthavalappu residence at 10:00 on Tuesday 8 September 2026. Cremation was set for 18:30 the same day at the Smrithi Patham public crematorium, also spelled Smritipatham and Smrithipatham, on Mavoor Road. Family members said he had specifically asked to be cremated at a public facility. It was reported as the first cremation of a Zamorin Raja at a public crematorium. The New Indian Express said the post-funeral sanchayanam would be held on Friday 11 September 2026. A successor as Zamorin was not named in the notices used here.

There is no personal English Wikipedia page. He is not Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran (1845-1914), not Pazhassi Raja, and not the earlier Zamorin P.K.S. Raja. Pages about the historical office of the Zamorin of Calicut are not his biography. No official Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn or personal website was found. College accounts for Sree Kerala Varma College belong to a different institution and are not his. The public record of his life is the day's obituaries and the institutional work they describe: a pharmacy firm, an export record, a filariasis project, a governing council for temples and schools, and a last instruction that the head of the Zamorin house be cremated in a public place.