nambiar family roots

This post is a collection of information gathered from multiple sources (primarily by word of mouth). Hence there is a possibility that it might have a mix of fact and fiction. We encourage inputs from our readers if they have more information, expecially regarding Palappuratha Puthiyedath Vidwan Govindan Nambiar

In Search of the Roots

The setting sun was spraying varied hues in the western horizon. Chirping birds were flying homebound in arrow formation. The breeze carrying the fragrance of soil and hay is laced with the tender chillness of a late December. I was standing looking at the hillock overlooking the scenic landscape. My mind was racing back to my childhood. The Tharavad,  the innumerable faces that have faded away into the annals of time. Generations after generations carrying on this great sojourn called life ! Where from my journey would have started ? Why and how am I standing here ?  Who all walked the path before me and how ?  I felt a sense of inquisitiveness. I decided to rewind the history of ancestral family long gone into oblivion . It was like a journey into the past like  ' Roots' of Alex Hailey or the autobiographic  fiction ' Verukal' by our very own Malayattoor.

That night, I talked about it to Unnietten. He was visibly excited. We decided to embark upon our journey to the past two days later on 1^st January 2010.  Unikrishnettan, Veena & Prakash were too eager to join us. We set out to a place called Vanneri near Perumpadapu, a place situated in Malappuram District around 70 K.M from Palappuram, about 20 K.M from Kunnamkulam and  10 KM from Guruvayoor on Ponnani road. in the district of  Malappuram. We were to visit our 17^th century l ancestoral land where our original household known as  Mazahat Bhavana Parambu  was located.

Alighting from the car at Perumpadappu I was thrilled. This is the place which connects me to my past generations ! We met one    Krishnettan, a retired Village Officer, who knows this area like the back of his palm.   Krishnettan was kind enough to take us to our Mazahat Bhavanaparambu. The Embrandiri family who  purchased this ancestral property (approximately 2 acres with coconut trees, mango trees etc.) has sold it to a Muslim, who has demolished the old house Krishnettan recalled.    What remains there still  is only a well  in good condition with plenty of water. The property is well maintained seured with barbed wire fencing. There is a Pond nearby (called by the locals as Mazhat Kulam), which is approximately 35 to 40 cents  in size, little away from the Bhavanaparambu, which was exclusively used by the ancestoral  family. All properties  that belonged to our ancestors are owned by Muslims now.

Next to our old property is a Nair family who has heard from their elders about mazhat house and the people who lived there once upon a time. The elderly member of the Nair family Mr. Sukumaran ,who is a small time real estate businessman told us that the Muslim who took over this parambu was not able to make a house in this place since the last 40 years. He also reminded us that we had only taken our Paradevathas (now installed in our present tharavadu during 1959-60). The Nagathan and the Rakshassu, never leave their birth place.  He claims that golden colored snakes are still seen near the tharavadu well frequently, which he claims as confirmation of the presence of our old nagadevathas still in this place.

From the land records, we could observe that we had lot of land and property (paddy & coconut fields) in and around, Veliankode Village, Ayriur and Andathode in present Malappuram District.  Most of our properties in this area was purchased by the famous Koladi Govinda Menon family.  Koladi Govinda Menon was a famous lawyer who worked with our P. R. Nambiar.  This information I had got   from Ramankutty Ammavan, when I visited him during April’10.  He also told that we came to Vanneri from Thrikandiyoor near Thirunavaya area, which was something unknown to us till then.  The revenue records in Malabar area were prepared only at the end of 18^th century and all our property in Vanneri is recorded, which were later sold at the time of partition of our Tharavad in Palappuram. At the time of partition , the remaining property in Vanneri was offered to every thaivazhi in the family, where none of the members were willing to settle down.

During the visit we met the famous Kattumadam Namboodiri, who is the son of famous poet, writer, Kattumadom Narayanan Namboodiri.  It was he who guided us to our Paradevatha temple, “PERANDRI VETTAKARAN TEMPLE” also known as PERUMUDISSERY VETTAKARAN TEMPLE in Perumudissery.  It was around 11’o clock and the pooja was over by the time we reached the temple. We could however talk to the temple manager Mr. Narayanan whom we informed  that we had the right to conduct the second vettakkaran pattu in the temple every year, which they were unaware of.  It is known that the Koladi family was conducting the pattu in our place, but recently they have stopped the practice. It is possible they might have purchased part of our coconut plantation and paddy field  and assured the temple that they will conduct the ritual by themselves.

We had a detailed discussion with  Kattumadam Namboodiri of the present who is a practicing expert in Thantra and Manthras. From that we could gather the story of our plight from Vanneri to Palappuram. It is recorded in history that Saamoothiri or Zamorin of Calicut defeated the Perumpadappu Kings, who later on shifted their kingdom to Mahodayapuram near Kodungallur and from there to Cochin (Thripunithura). Our ancestors, the Nambiars of those times were powerful local leaders and were supporters of the Perumpadappu Swaroopam. The leader  of the Nambiars hatched a conspiracy to finish off the Samoothiri. But the mission failed and he was captured. The Namboodiri family chiefs of this area, who were the advisors of Samoothiri, under the leadership of Chennas Namboodiri decided to behead the Nambiar. If this was true, it might have happened during the 15th century, when Samoothiri captured Perumpadappu and Vanneri.

Another story popular among the locals is that The Nambiar and Chakkiar family in Vanneri had the right to conduct Chakkiar koothu in the nearby Govindapuram Temple near Althara, Punnuyurkulam, the birth place of famous Poet, Kamala Dass (Madhivikutty) of Nalapat Tharavad. When the Chakkiar Koothu was being conducted in the temple, the Chakkiar made fun of the visiting King Samoothiri in his performance as was prevalent in that art form. The Samoothiri felt it as an insult and immediately  ordered to behead the Chakkiar and also  Nambiar, who was  the drummer(mizhav player) in the Koothu. The Chakkiar somehow managed to run away, but the Nambiar could not escape. He was caught and beheaded. The decision was taken by the Namboodiri leaders, who controlled the villages during these days. Since the upper cast Brahmins dominated the society their decisions always prevailed in those days.  It is possible that the local Namboodiris were jealous of the powerful Nambiar chieftain who had lot of wealth and wielded enormous power in this area. Samoothiri feared and respected the Namboodiris who practiced Thantra and Manthra and always listened and obliged to their demands. 

The most reliable story of our migration from Vanneri to Palappuram abandoning  all our property  goes like this. During Tippu’s Malabar conquest at the end of 17^th century, lot of brahmin and upper caste families living in this area and Malabar region (from Kannur to Trichur) fled fearing forcible conversion to Islam and reached  Cochin.  Our ancestors being the supporters of the Cochin Royal family fled from Vanneri and came to Thripunithura. From there, a Namboodiri of present Earnoor Mana near our present tharavad took two ladies, married the eldest, came and settled in Palappuram. When there was no issue in the  marriage with the eldest , he married the younger one and the famous Vidwan Govindan Nambiar, who was the Raja Guru of the Thripunithura Palace during 1860s, was born.  There is no mention of any male member who had fled Vanneri and no data on any other member is available. Probably, the elder male members might have been converted to Islam or might have been killed by the Tippu’s army or perhaps in those days there were only limited members in this family. It is a mystery, why only our ancestors alone fled from this area, whereas lot of brahmin families still exist there. May be, those brahmin families might have gone back after Tippu left Kerala , when the British attacked Srirangapattanam in 1790 and the news of his death became known.  We still have copies of our property records which were in our name.  This confirms that since the land (revenue) records were not created during  15^th century, we left Vanneri only during the end of 17^th century.  The revenue records in Malabar area were scrutinized only during the end of 17^th century during the British. 

Many interesting facts came to light during our interaction with Kattumadam Namboothiri. One of them being  only Kshetriyas and Bhramins worship Vettakaran as their family deity. People who worship and keep Vettakaran as Paradevatha are either a Kshetraya or a Namboodiri. It seems, we were either out casted from our original caste or reduced in status since we fled from our original place . Even a lesser issue was sufficient for the Namboodiri Chieftains to outcast one from their own community during those days. I recollected  having heard from our grandmother and elderly members in my childhood that we paid to Desamangalam Mana to get the right for Koothu in Thiruvillamala and thereby retain the Nambiar surname. This indicates that we were either out casted or degraded from our original hierarchy and it was important in those days to be listed with at least  the next upper cast tag.

Most of the property, which we owned in and around Palappuram may be purchased by the cash or jewellery we carried from Vanneri when we fled from there or might have come through the Cochin Royal family, who bestowed Vidwan Govindan Nambiar with VEERA SHRINGALA.  We were the second richest in property after Poomulli Mana in Valluvanad region in those days .  Our famous Cheerakuzhi Kalam on the banks of Cheerakuzhi Puzha was sold to one Pattar ( referred as Tamil brahmin)  during our grandmother's young age, and the pattar gave onappudava to each and every member of the family after purchasing the property.

Palapuppuruthu Vidwan Govindan Nambiar was running a gurukula type school in Palappuram where Bhramin boys and upper class students stayed and studied.  A Brahmin (Pattar) used to cook for them.  His student list consisted of greats like the Kaikulangara Ramawarior and Nadavuthu Achan Namboodiri.  Later he shifted his school to Thripunithura, when he became the Raja Guru. Not much data is available on his activities in the Hill palace records, except for a few mentions of his name here and there in the records.  There is no information available about his family life, but it is believed that he married from a Nambiar family in Trichur. There are no details of his wife or other family members available with us. (We have since requested the Hill Palace Review Committee who are collecting data and information on the rulers of Cochin. We have requested them to invite us during the review of the period when Raja Guru Vidwan Govindan Nambiar lived and taught in Thripunithura,  so that if any more information  available with them can be shared with us.)

It is mentioned in the records of the Hill Palace and the Souvenir published by the Sanskrit College that Vidwan Govindan Nambiar was the Raja Guru and Kerala Varma, also known as Ozinga Valliambran who was poor in his studies got interested in studies under the guidance of Vidwan Govindan Nambiar. He has written in great words about his guru, who due to illness could not teach him for longer periods, and  passed away in 1864.  This Raja was a great reformist and during his reign, the famous Cochin Port was constructed.  He was also instrumental in starting the Sanskrit College in Thripunithura. His other contributions were the opening of medical centres in and around Cochin. The railway line from Shornur to Cochin was done under his leadership and support.  The money for this project was contributed by selling the famous golden decorations of elephants (AANA CHAMAYAM) of Poornathrayesa temple. Out of eight elephant gold deckings made of pure gold,  seven were sold for this purpose. Later due to the public outcry against this, he decided to leave the kingdom and settled in Trichur Palace till his death.

On our second visit to Vanneri, we could meet the Embrandri who is now 97 years. It was for his sister, our ancestral house and property was purchased. It was he, Mr. Narayanan Embrandiri who came and paid the money at Palappuram to buy this property. Due to old age, he was not able to recollect much of the old information on this.  His sister had to sell the property, since one of his son who running a chit fund, lost money heavily and thereafter committed suicide.  The property was grabbed by a Muslim, to whom lot of money was due.  

We also visited the Govindapuram Temple near Althara and enquired the details on our Koothu etc. in that temple. It is known that the Koothu  being conducted in the Koothuambalam in olden days was stopped, but nobody was there to explain to us why and when the Koothu was stopped . A new Koothambalam was under construction and one of the organizers was happy to invite us for the first Koothu to be conducted there, when we briefed him about our roots. We also met Smt. Karthiyani teacher, who is a member of famous writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s father’s family.  She gave a lot of reference and details of popular historian’s in that area, the famous among being  Prof. Shankaran.

We returned home with the hope  that  Vettakaran will  shed more light on our roots when we go there on 26^th December to conduct the Vettakaran Pattu.  We also decided  to visit the nearby Chennas Mana to know if they can give us any information on our earlier existence in vannery.  May be our forefathers never wanted the next generations to know the  exact reason to for leaving Vanneri. May be it was sheer misery or an unpleasant tragic incident which they never liked to remember and remind. It stilll remains a mystery to us. We vowed to come back sooner to collect much more of that. We did after a few months.

26.12.2010

It was a memorable evening for the family members of Puthiyedath who went on a pilgrimage to our ancestral place in Vanneri.  We visited our Mazahat Bhavana Parambu,  which in the earlier land records is  also mentioned  as Thachilliathu Parambu.  It is also gathered  that the Mazahat Bhavanam was known to the locals as Mazahat Mana.  We could get valid information from the locals, especially from the neighbour Mr. Sukumaran that how a  cunning fellow from  neighbouring Muslim family  grabed the land from the Embrandri family by making the four brothers fight each other.  It is told that after the Muslim took over the property, he dug up the Pampum Kavu and used the Chitrakoota stones to make a shed for his sheep.  He later on disposed off the property to another Muslim, who is the present owner.  It is heard this buyer demolished the house, dismantled the beautifully carved wooden pillars and sold them. Rumours say that one person purchased one of these pillars and cut it open only to find a trasure of gold hidden with which he performed marriages of his   four daughters.

We reached the temple by 6.30.It was a great experience to witness the Vettakaran Pattu and the Thullal of the Komaram (Dance of the Oracle) .  By 10.30 the pooja was over.  We reached home late at midnight. I was sure that we are on the right path and will ultimately trace out our roots for certain in the near future.

Some of my observations during the interactions are placed below :

Details of Perandri (Perumudissery)Vettakaran Temple.  This area is also known as Perumudissery.  It is believed that the temple is more than 1500 years old.  This is one of the oldest temples in this area, in a depilated condition and poorly maintained. It is believed that the Temple was first owned by the Kollangod Rajas and  later worshipped by the Azhavancheri Thamprakkal as their Paradevatha (family diety). It was gathered from the temple authorities that during Tippu’s Malabar conquest, the Azhavancheri Thrampakal fearing demolition  of the temple, took the Pancha Loha Vighara of Vettakaran to their Mana in Azhavencheri. That is the reason that the  temple sanctorum of Vettakaran does not have a Vighara .   But the power of the good is still felt and believed to be there on the wall of the sanctorum.  Even though the temple is named as Vettakaran Temple, equal importance is given for other dieties like Bhagavathi, Maha Vishnu & Shiva.  Next to the Prathishta of Shiva, there is a  Prathishta of Ganapathy also.  It is told by the temple authorities that one leg of the Bhagavathi was  damaged (may be during the invasion of Tippu)  for which Punaprathishta was done during 2004. 

From Azhuvancheri Thamprakkal, the temple came in to the hands of Punnuthur Rajas.  The Koladi family (Koladi Govinda Menon’s father) was the Karyasthan for this temple administration appointed  by the Punnuthur Raja’s.  The Rajas bestowed the temple with abundant wealth by way of land (paddy & coconut fields) . The property of the temple could never be sold or taken over by anybody.  But when the property came in Mr. Koladi Govinda Menon’s  hands, he slowly started disposing off the land and almost finished up the entire property.  There was 11 days' Vettakaran Pattu in Dhanumasam with Pantheeraayaramm, of which first day’s pattu belonged to Punnathur family.  The second day's pattu was from our Mazahatu family, which was later conducted by the Koladi family, after our leaving Vanneri.  From our land records, we could find out that, separate land was kept for the purpose of conducting the Pantheerayeeram every year.  This land cannot be disposed off or taken over by any family member.  We have to look into the land records and locate and see in who’s hand  this land is presently. 

The temple manager, Mr. Murali (Unni) has assured us that he will arrange an appointment with Mr. Shankaran Namboodiri, of Chennas Mana near the temple . He told us that the  Thantri of the temple, retired principal of Sree Krishna College has got a deep knowledge in the history of this area.  We also intend to visit the library in the name of Kaikulangara Ramawariar to get information about Vidwan Govindan Nambiar.

Most reliable details on our settlement in Palappuram

Exactly a year after we set out on our journey to the past, on 1^st January 2011, myself Unniettan and Ettan visited Ernoor Mana and discussed with Ernoormanakal Cheriya Narayanan Namboodiri (EMC)  regarding our migration to Palappuram.  He has studied Law with our Mr. P R Nambiar and practiced in Pattambi.

Our great Grand Parent  was Narayanan Namboodiri of Ernoor Mana  called as Samsari Narayanan Namboodiri.  His ancestors came to Palappuram from Irinjilakuda.  The present Kacheari (Court)in Irinjalakuda is  situated in their Illaparambu.    He had the equal powers of present day Magistrate.  He was the chief in Smartha Vicharam and his word was the last in decisions taken during those days. He has bestowed us lot of wealth.  He used to give away all the wealth he acquired like KANAM to Nangiramma & JAMMAM to Antharjanam.

The discussion was very fruitful and from him, we learned that two ladies of our Moola Kodumbam in Vanneri accompanied Samsari Narayanan Namboodiri.  Namboodiri married the eldestst and got them settled in our present house. When the elder sister had no issues, he married the younger sister of whom Vidwan Govindan Nambiar was born.  Vidwan Govindan Nambiar was a great scholar and he taught students like Kaikulangara Ramawariar, Naduvathu Achhan Namboodiri  and lot of other namboodiri students, who stayed and studied  in our house at Palappuram.  The opposite land (Pattaru Madathil thodi) lived a pattar who cooked and served food to the namboodiri students. Govindan Nambiar married from Meladethu Nambiar Madam in Mangalam,(lakkadi).  He had no children.

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People who contributed this write up:

* Ram Mohan

* MGK Nambiar

* Prakash Marar

* Veena Marar

* Unnikrishnan

* V Unnikrishnan

* PGK Nambiar

*Vijay Narayanan

* Kattumadam Namboothiri

* Karthiyani teacher

* EMC N Namboodiripad

* Retd Village office of Perambadapur

* Staff of Perumadasheri Vettekaran temple

*MP Gopalakrishnan