Rama Varma VIII was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 who ruled the Kingdom of Cochin

Kingdom of Cochin

Kingdom of Cochin was a late medieval Hindu kingdom and later Princely State on the Malabar Coast, South India...

 from 1775 until his death in 1790.

Reign

Rama Varma VIII was the younger brother of Kerala Varma II and succeeded the latter to the throne on his death in 1775. Rama Varma VIII scarcely commanded any authority during his reign as the kingdom was largely a puppet state under the suzerainty of Hyder Ali of Mysore. During Rama Varma's reign, the Muslim general Sardar Khan captured the city of Cochin and established his residence at Thrissur

Thrissur

This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...

.

Rama Varma VIII succumbed to an epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

 of small pox on August 16, 1790 and was succeeded to the throne by his nephew Rama Varma IX.