Dear, I am searching the novel i.e. marthanda varma by CV Raman pillai (which is subsequently filmed) you are mentioning. It says how the ettuveetu pillaimar, (ettaribyogarm) who are managing the padmanaba temple were controlled. If you are able get the same kindly inform me.
I think the publisher is the Sahithya Akademi. The author wrote one or two more historical novels in Malayalam - Dharmaraja which deals with the next generation is translated in English and was available at Landmark last year.
I got this at the Chennai book fair a couple years ago - all of my books need to be organized. I will confirm details when I find this, likely in a couple weeks.