Kerala Iyers

Kerala Iyers or Bhattars, are Tamil Brahmins of the Indian state of Kerala — people who were residents in the Kerala region, and also people who migrated from present day Tamil Nadu in different waves starting from the medieval period onwards. The community consists of two groups - the Palakkad Iyers and Iyers of the Cochin and Travancore regions. The first wave of Iyers settled down in Palakkad district at the beginning of the medieval period. Migrations to the Travancore and Cochin regions took place mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries AD. Many of the Diwans or Prime Ministers of the princely state of Travancore were Tamil Brahmins.

Kerala Iyers, like the Iyers of Tamil Nadu and the Nambudiris of Kerala, belonged to the Pancha-Dravida classification of India's Brahmin community. They mostly belonged to the Vadama and Brahacharanam sub-sects. Iyers were usually employed as cooks, musicians and temple assistants, since they were not allowed to conduct pooja as the priest (shanthi) in Kerala temples which followed Tantric rituals. So Iyers being Vedic scholars built their own temples in their Agraharams to conduct pooja, since they followed the Vedantic Agama rituals and not the Vedic Tantric rituals of the Nambudiris.^[1]

Palakkad Iyers

The Palakkad Iyers were greatly affected by the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill, 1957 (repealed in 1961 and substituted by The Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963) which abolished the tenancy system.^[2]

Travancore Iyers

During the rule of Travancore kings, many Iyers (Tamil Brahmins) were invited to Thiruvananthapuram for administrative requirements of Travancore kingdom and for participating in rituals related to Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Some Padamangalam_Nairs involved in temple service are thought to be descendants of Travancore Iyers. The migration continued for decades, and thus Iyer population is concentrated around this temple in Trivandrum.^[3]

Notable people

Journalists and writers

• Ulloor Parameswara Iyer (1877–1959), Malayalam poet
• Professor K. V. Krishna Iyer (1894–1986), Professor of history and author of standard reference books on Kerala History
• Malayattoor Ramakrishnan (1927–1997), Malayalam novelist
• S. N. Swamy, Indian screenwriter^[4][5]
• K. K. Neelakantan well known by his pen name Induchoodan, a leading Indian ornithologist and writer of the best known book on birds of Kerala, 'Keralathile Pakshikal' (Birds of Kerala)

Musicians

• Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar (1895–1974), Carnatic music singer
• Palghat Mani Iyer (1912–1981), Musician/Mridangist
• K. V. Narayanaswamy (1923–2002) Carnatic musician (singer)
• T. V. Gopalakrishnan (1932- ) Carnatic and Hindustani vocalist, violinist and Mridangam exponent
• Shankar Mahadevan, a popular National Award winning musician who has sung many songs in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu^[6]

Politicians and administrators

• Ramayyan Dalawa, famous Dewan of Travancore from 1737 to 1756. Strategic advisor to Maharaja Marthanda Varma during the Battle of Colachel against the Dutch.
• Janaki Ramachandran (1923–1996), Wife of M.G. Ramachandran and the first woman Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
• Krishna Gopalayyan, Diwan of Travancore from 1768 to 1776.
• V. Nagam Aiya (1850–1917), civil servant, chronicler and administrator from the princely state of Travancore. Author of The Travancore State Manual.
• Sankaranarayana Iyer, Diwan of Travancore from 1815 to 1816.
• Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, (1845–1901) Dewan of Mysore from February 1883 to March 1901, the longest tenure for any Dewan of the princely state
• Shungrasoobyer, Dewan of Travancore from 1892 to 1898.
• V. S. Subramanya Iyer, Indian lawyer and administrator. Diwan of Travancore from 1929 to 1932.
• Vadiswaran Subrahmanya Iyer, Diwan of Travancore from 1776 to 1780.
• Varkala Subbaiyen, Diwan of Travancore from 1763 to 1768.

References

External links

• Kerala Iyers Website