From Cauvery to Neela- A History of The Tamil Agraharams of Palakkad

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

K.N. Lakshminarayanan (IRPS Rtd.) is a native and resident of Kalpathy. After retiring from his position in the Indian Railways, he devoted his time to research on the origin and history of the Tamil agraharams of Palakkad. He collected materials from old legal documents and gazetteers and created a website on Kalpathy around the time this cluster of villages was declared a heritage area in 2008. He continues to be active in heritage events and serves on the committees of the Kalpathy Viswanathaswamy Temple and the Palakkad Mridangam Maestro Mani lyer Memorial, and as President of the Thyagaraja Aradhana Committee of Kalpathy. For some years, he published a monthly residential magazine for the village. His articles on music, musicians and Kalpathy heritage have appeared in Malayala Manorama and The Hindu and he was interviewed in Sruti magazine on the subject of Palakkad musicians. He has written a book about the Kalpathy temples that is now being published by the Viswanathaswamy Temple trustees. Mr. Lakshminarayanan remains the first reference for students, writers and documentary film makers exploring the subject of the Tamil agraharams of Palakkad who wish to rely on an authentic, knowledgeable and impartial source of information.

Memorable events take place in all parts of the world, but most of them don't come to light. Historians many a time therefore struggle to bring out interesting episodes.

One such event appears to be the migration of a group of communities some six centuries ago. This relates to the exodus of several families of Tamil Brahmin community from the Cauvery basin and their settlement on the banks of the river Neela in Palakkad. The author has tried to trace the circumstances leading to and the period at which this took place and also the attraction in settling in the Malayalam region, in an elaborate and convincing way.

The agraharams were set up by these families with the patronage of the then ruling dispensation. The agraharam design, including the hutments entirely different from that of Kerala style, is naturally of interest to those who study heritage. The heritage tag was rightly tied to these enclaves to preserve their hoary past, attracting tourists and students of history, engineering, etc.

So many significant parts of human history are forgotten because they leave no written record. Those who come later struggle to trace interesting events and movements in the absence of a written history. This is especially so for the far-flung branches of an old community whose people are keen to know their past.

The writing of any history is an unending process and often imperfect. In the time it takes to narrate events in an orderly manner, another history may pass by. The more information we gather about a particular era or community, the more we realize how much has been left out. Thus, it is the duty of historians as well as all ordinary witnesses of events in their community to make a record. Such a record can never be complete, but it can be an authentic and carefully written part of a necessarily complicated whole that will one day be of value.

The Tamil settlements or agraharams of Palakkad, peopled by Paradesi Brahmins and other Tamil communities from the Cauvery basin in Thanjavur, have become so well known that, in 2008, anarea encompassing Kaipathy and other agraharams was declared a heritage area. As part of this effort to preserve the traditions of a community, rules were introduced to limit changes to old houses and a museum was proposed. I have felt for some time that a crisp and readable history of the Tamil agraharams would be a valuable part of the record and I hope this book will offer one such history to interested readers.