K.C. Ramachandran Raja, head of Zamorin family of erstwhile Calicut kingdom, passes away

K.C. Ramachandran Raja, head of the Zamorin family of the erstwhile Calicut kingdom, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Thursday (June 26, 2025) morning. He was 93.

A member of the Kottakkal Kizhakke Kovilakom branch of the family, Ramachandran Raja was a well-known management and business consultant. He was chosen as the head of the family in April after the demise of K.C. Unniyanujan Raja.

According to sources, Ramachandran Raja was born on April 27, 1932, as the son of Jathavedan Namboothiri of Kaladi Mana and Mahadevi Thampuratti of Kottakkal Kizhakke Kovilakom. He did his schooling at K.P. School, and Raja’s High School, Kottakkal, now in Malappuram. Ramachandran Raja took his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and went for higher studies to the London School of Economics.

Starting his career as a commercial manager in Metal Box, a private company, he later worked as a business management teacher at places such as S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, and Garware Institute of Career Education and Development, Mumbai, Maharashtra, and GIDC Rajju Shroff ROFEL Institute of Management Studies, Vapi, Gujarat. Ramachandran Raja was also the chairman of the research wing of the Mumbai Management Association and the academic advisor of the Ahmedabad Management Association. He was a management consultant for many companies in India and the Middle East. Ramachandran Raja had been living at Whitefield, Bengaluru, for some time.

Though he was appointed as the head of the family in April, Ramachandran Raja could not come to Kozhikode to officially administer the trusteeship of the many temples and educational institutions under the Zamorins because of his ill-health.

He is survived by his wife, Indira Raja, son Narayan Menon, and daughter Kalyani Raja Menon.

Ramachandran Raja’s last rites will be performed in Bengaluru.