Tanjore Rama Rao CIE (c. 1831 – 5 June 1895), was an Indian administrator who served as the Diwan of Travancore (now part of Kerala State) from 1887 to 1892.

When he did not receive promotion, Rama Rao quit the job and accepted an offer as a translator in district and sessions court in Calicut.

[3] The Council met for the first time on 23 August 1888 in the Diwan's chambers[4] and Travancore Kingdom became the first among Indian Princely States to have a legislative body[5] and recognize the value of such an institution.

Rama Rao thus had the honour of sowing the seed of legislative governance for the first time (in any Princely State) in India, the largest Democracy in the world.

[7] In 1891 Rama Rao was created a Companion of the Indian Empire by Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India and the citation reads "Victoria, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of Faith, Empress of India and Sovereign of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, To.

He built a hospital from his own private sources to serve the poor and most depressed class of the population of the rural community at Nedungolam near present-day Kollam on 4 December 1894 and requested the London Mission Society (LMS) to manage it.