G. V. Raja

Lt. Col. P. R. Godavarma Raja (13 October 1908 – 30 April 1971), often referred to as G. V. Raja, was an Indian sports and tourism promoter and administrator, pilot, sportsman and Sanskrit scholar. He took special care in inspiring the youth into sports and was instrumental in founding the Kerala Sports Council in 1953. G. V. Raja occupied the post of Council President till he was killed in a flight mishap in 1971. G. V. Raja also played a key role in establishing the Trivandrum Tennis Club (now called as Thiruvananthapuram Tennis Club), Flying Club, and the development of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. As the spouse of Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, he became the prince consort of Travancore.

Raja was the founder President of the Kerala State Sports Council as well as Kerala Cricket Association, and patron of a large number of sports clubs and associations. The CricInfo website reports that Raja was the first Keralite to become the Vice-President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and had he lived, he would have become President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Raja was also the President of the Tourism Promotion Council of Kerala. He was the main architect in developing Kovalam as an international tourist spot. He died in an air crash near Kullu Valley on 30 April 1971. Sports journalists, historians, experts and sportsmen consider him the Father of Sports and Tourism in Kerala. Raja's birth anniversary, 13 October, is observed as "Kerala Sports Day".

[Poonjar]] in Kottayam district of Kerala, into the Royal House of Poonjar. He was the third son of Smt. Ambalika Thamburatty, a lady belonging to the Poonjar dynasty, and her husband, Puthusseri Narayanan Nampoothiri.

In accordance witakkathayam]] system then prevalent in Kerala, Godavarma Raja belonged not to the family and caste of his father, but to that of his mother; he was a member of the Poonjar dynasty, and similarly, his children would belong to the family of their mother.

The Poonjar dynasty traces its lineage to the Pandyan kings of the Sangam Age. The founder of the dynasty, Manavikrama Kulashekhara Perumal, was a Pandyan king whose mother was a Chera princess. In 1152 AD, he shifted from Madurai (the Pandya capital) to present-day Kerala due to incessant civil wars in the Tamil Country. Arriving in the land of his mother, Raja Manavikrama Perumal purchased the land that covers present-day Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts from the Thekkumkur Rajas and thus established a small fiefdom for himself. In his flight from Madurai, he and his family had carried with them one of the three idols of Meenakshi, their "Kula Devatha." This idol, which had been used in Madural as the "Utsava Murthy" during the annual car festival of Meenakshi Sundareswara, was now installed by Manavikrama Perumal as the "Pratishtha" (main idol) in the Meenakshi temple which he built on the banks of the Meenachil river. The family has thus lived in Poonjar for nearly a thousand years, and their lives have revolved around this temple and the small fiefdom which surrounds it. The town of Erattupetta was the commercial centre of the Poonjar kingdom.

Raja completed his school education at S.M.V. High School, Poonjar and MD Seminary Higher Secondary School, Kottayam. He then went to Madras to pursue a degree in medicine.