Once upon a time ...

Anthropology has always fascinated me. The myriad cultures and lifestyles of people, their customs and ancestry etc. So, when I decided to write a blog about a particular culture, it was only natural to choose to write about the 'Palakkad Iyers' as that is where my ancestry lie. As a child, I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. The only connection I had with Palakkad was the occasional visit during summer, that all of us looked forward to. A train journey to Madras Central from the Hyderabad station, where we would wait until evening to board the connecting train to Palakkad (there was no direct train to Kerala from Hyderabad, way back in the early eighties.)

The last lap of the journey was most exciting, we would wake up early, the next morning and scramble for the window seats, which more than often, ended in fist fights among cousins. This was the part which none of us wanted to miss, the train journey through the western ghats, which became more pronounced after Coimbatore.

For children brought up in drab and boring cities, the mere sight of the western ghats was an escape into a fairy tale. The blue mountains, which we longingly wanted to touch from the train window, the greenery, the forests, mesmerized us to no end and we felt proud at belonging to this land, and in a matter of minutes, even before the spell broke, it was time to get down at the Palakkad Junction.

The summer was spent lazing around, or a dip in the puzha (the river Nila flowing behind my aunts house), walking around the various temple compounds in the agraharams. Hours on end spent in the sprawling backyards of an ancient house, where more than once, we would encounter a rat snake and run in terror for cover (did not realize then, that rat snakes were non-poisonous), but cobras are bound to be where their natural prey, the rat snakes were. And so, listening to tales from aunts and grandmothers, we allowed our own imaginations to run amok, especially with regard to ghosts. My mother's aunt would chide us for spending all our time in the dense backyards, warning us that there was a 'brahmarakshas' (an accursed brahmin, turned into a spirit) there. Suitably chastised, we would return home for the day, only to gorge on the traditional food and snacks that were painstakingly prepared. When night arrived we would refuse to occupy the bed near the windows, cause that was when all the entertaining tales would suddenly be seen in a different light (they ceased to be entertaining and took on nightmarish proportions.)

When summer ended, it was time for tearful farewells, and we were back at Hyderabad, falling into our monotonous routine. It was one such time, that my teacher asked me about my vacation, and when I told her that I had been to Palakkad in Kerala, which was my home town, she gave me a surprised look and asked "Aren't you a Tamilian?" Yes, I was a Tamilian, with my hometown in Kerala. Well, her question stirred my own interest in my ancestry, as to why a distinctly tamil population, claimed Palakkad to be their home land.

The origin of the Palakkad Iyers , is originally Tamil Nadu. There are a number of theories, as to why they migrated to Kerala. Taking a deeper look into history, the migrations would have started six or seven centuries before. One of the theories is that, as Kerala was under the sway of the Tamil Chera Kings, and Keralam by some historians is considered to be a corruption of Cheran, it was only natural to have tamil settlements in Palakkad. But, this theory sounds quite dubious, when we consider the fact, that the only settlers are the tamil brahmin community and the Moothans, who are a trading community, who migrated from Tamil Nadu for the purpose of commerce. If that theory were true, why do we not have people from other tamil communities. Another more popular theory was that the Palakkad Rajas encouraged these tamil brahmin migrations. Historical data proves that a member of the Palakkad royalty married a tribal girl, which was opposed by the nambudiris (the native Kerala brahmins) who played a very important role in the matters of state and religion.The nambudiris opposed to recognize the marriage, and boycotted all temple duties. Without their cooperation, the fear of the social structure crumbling, loomed large over the King. It was only a question of time that the common man would rise in revolt.

This was when, the Raja of Palakkad is supposed to have invited the Tamil Iyers to Palakkad. He gave them grants to settle in Palakkad, and thus thwarted the hegemony of the nambudiris. The disgruntled nambudiris moved farther south and Palakkad became the home of Iyer Brahmins, from Tanjore, Trichy, Madurai, Kumbakonam etc. who came into Kerala through the Palakkad pass. One thing to be noted is that, though the nambudiri brahmins and the tamil iyers belonged to the pancha-dravida brahmin framework, the nambudiris followed a tantric vedic ritual while the iyers followed the agama shastras (which involved more of mantra recital). Thus new agraharams were established to welcome the newcomers, new temples were built which functioned on the agama shastra tradition etc. During one of my numerous visits to my hometown, I have seen that in a number of houses in the agraharam (village) of Kalpathy, it is common to find a sarpa-kavu (serpent shrine), which is not part of tamil iyer tradition. This is further proof that those houses were initially nambudiri illams, which later on came to be occupied by the Iyers.

Though, the tamil iyers settled in Palakkad, they followed their own culture they were used to back in Tamil Nadu, they spoke tamil in their homes, which over a period of time, with the influence of the local language Malayalam, evolved  into a dialect called 'Palakkad Tamil', which very easily gives away the geographical positioning of the person.

Another aspect, which went through a sea change, was the culinary aspect, this again evolved due to local influence. Kerala was abound with coconuts, and the Iyers introduced more coconut in their cooking, which is otherwise used sparsely in tamil cooking and thus evolved 'Palakkad Chamayal'. Whenever we have a new bride or groom in the family, who is not a Palakkad Iyer, dietary habits prove to be a challenge initially. Many of my brother in laws are Iyers from Tamil Nadu, and after the initial apprehensions have accepted the Palakkad style of cooking as a benchmark. There are some exclusive sweets and savories made exclusively in Palakkad Iyer households, like elai-adai, peruvalangai, neiappams, thiruvathirai kali etc.

Later on some Iyers migrated to the south, especially Travancore state and have always been the preferred ones for ministerial posts for the state of Travancore. Most of the Travancore Dewans were Tamil Iyers.

The Palakkad Agraharams are built along the tributaries of the river 'Nila'. The agraharams are twin lined villages, where houses face each other. Each agraharam has its own temple and deity. These agraharams are socially and culturally well managed, with the resident identifying himself with the village he was born in, thus carrying the village name as an initial. Though the early villages were established in and around Kalpathy, many more cropped up at different other places, over a period of time.

Music has played a very important place in the life of the Iyer Brahmins, they are both exponents and connoisseurs of carnatic classical music. Some of the famous exponents are Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Palakkad Mani Iyer, K V Narayanaswamy , TN Krishnan and many many more. Palakkad Iyers have also contributed immensely to the Indian Civil Services and politics. The notable among them are Justice VR Krishna Iyer, TN Seshan, Subramanian Swamy, T K Seshan etc. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan and Induchoodan are famous writers from the Iyer community.

The modern day Iyer progeny, who are born and brought up in different parts of the world, would very soon be unable to relate to a specific place. I could be one of the last generations to visualize a few stolen summers, in a breathtakingly beautiful place called Palakkad.