precincts of his own palace. During the reign of another Aditya Varma (1718–1721), the clashes between the royal officials and the temple trustees became more common. Failing to get redress at the hands of the king, the tenants of the temple lands marched to Trivandrum to present their grievances to the Yogakkar (trustees), indicating the low ebb of the power of the king. Modern history In the early 18th century CE, the Travancore royal family adopted some members from the royal family of Kolathunadu based at Kannur and Parappanad, based in present-day Malappuram district. Maharaja Marthanda Varma who reigned from 1729 to 1758, and who is regarded as the father of modern Travancore, modernised Thiruvananthapuram. Travancore became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. The locals of Thiruvananthapuram supported him against the Ettuveetil Pillamar and Ettara Yogam when he was the heir-apparent, and when he was attacked by the agents of the trustees, he fled to the safety of Trivandrum, from where he counterattacked. During his reign, he renovated the Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the walls of the fortress. He also shifted the capital legally from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram, which he made a great centre of intellectual and artistic activity. Thiruvananthapuram became a prominent city in Kerala under Marthanda Varma. As a result of the annexation of neighbouring chiefdoms, the artists and scholars from these places migrated to Trivandrum, turning it into a cultural center. Marthanda Varma gave patronage to different temple art forms including Koothu, Padhakam, Kathakali, Thullal, and Koodiyattam. Noted artists such as Ramapurathu Warrier and Kunchan Nambiar amongst others served as his court poets. In 1791, the English East India Company signed a treaty to protect Travancore from the Kingdom of Mysore and under its terms was allowed to install a Resident and troops in Thiruvananthapuram. In 1795, Thiruvananthapuram became the capital city of Travancore. In 1799, Velu Thampi Dalawa, then a Karyakar of Talakkulam, led a march of the local people to Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the corruption of the Kings's ministers. The accession of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal who reigned from 1829 to 1847, ushered in an epoch of cultural progress and economic prosperity. The beginning of English education was marked in 1834 by the opening of an English school at Thiruvananthapuram. An observatory and a charity hospital were also established in 1836. During