By Pallikkonam Rajeev · Muziris Heritage Tour
Among the ports that lined the eastern and western coasts of ancient Tamilakam — of which present-day Kerala was a part — Muziris occupies the most important chapter in the region'…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Vembanad Lake: An Inland Voyage
Those who look at satellite maps often notice, with curiosity, the triangular and quadrilateral pieces of land arranged next to Vembanad Lake. Being man-made, this land — lying in…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Muziris Heritage Tour
From roughly the eighth century CE until the middle of the last century, the various shifting social orders of Kerala were governed by legal codes framed by Brahmins. The Brahmins…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · A Journey to the Source of the Meenachil River
Tourists call this stream in Vagamon the "Infinity Pool," but the truth is, it only turned into a series of continuous pools after 2002. As tourism in the area grows, if the river'…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · A Journey to the Source of the Meenachil River
Did you know that the walking path visible through the middle of the long rock formation in this photo actually marks a boundary between two districts of Kerala? This is an aerial…
Vembanad Lake: An Inland Voyage
കുട്ടനാട്ടിലെയും അപ്പർ കുട്ടനാട്ടിലെയും കായൽ പരപ്പിലൂടെ വെള്ളപ്പുഴുത്ത് അവർ വരുമ്പോൾ ആരും ഒന്ന് നോക്കിപ്പോകും. കുട്...കുട്...ശബ്ദം വെച്ച് സുന്ദരിയായി 'വിജയലക്ഷ്മി' എന്ന ബോട്ട് കുട്…
By വിജയകുമാർ, കേരള കൗമുദി, കോട്ടയം, 03 Jul 2026 · Vembanad Lake: An Inland Voyage
കോട്ടയം: കുട്ടനാട്ടിലെയും അപ്പൂർ കുട്ടനാട്ടിലെയും കായൽ പരപ്പിലൂടെ അതിവേഗം കുതിച്ചു വരുന്ന 'വിജയ ലക്ഷ്മി' എന്ന ബോട്ട് കണ്ടാൽ ആരും ഒന്ന് നോക്കി നിൽക്കും. പ്രായം എഴുപത്തഞ്ചായെങ്കിലും…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Vembanad Lake: An Inland Voyage
The Kodoor river is one of Kerala's rivers bearing a cultural history stretching back millennia. Though usually classed as a tributary of the Meenachil, it is, geographically speak…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · A Journey to the Source of the Meenachil River
I found myself once again at Mithranikethan in Vagamon, this time to join a heritage walk organized by "Dharini," a heritage-conservation group led by architects. My first visit to…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
No one would disagree with describing Dewan Peshkar T. Rama Rao as the “Architect of Modern Kottayam.” After Kottayam came under Travancore rule, the old town had fallen into decli…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The market currently active in Kottayam was relocated to Kodimatha, south of the town, only a few years ago. Before that, a market had stood for about a century just north of Chant…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The following is an account based on the facts that have emerged from investigations into the Trade centres of Old Kottayam that remained active until around the middle of the eigh…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
Outside the Thirunakkara Temple complex, at its south-eastern corner, stands a roughly five-foot-high, round shaped stone pillar in the middle of the public road. This crudely shap…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
Although historians mark Munjunad (Munjanad) as one of the powerful principalities of central Kerala in the early medieval period, no clear information about its boundaries, its pe…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The place-name "Kottayakam" is first found recorded in the deed by which Aditya Varma, the Thekkumkur king of the time, granted tax-exempt land in AD 1550 for the Valiyapally — Kot…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The craftsmen who built the Thirunakkara Mahadeva Temple belonged to a family of sthapathis (master architects) of the Vishwakarma caste, who lived settled near the Swamiyar Madam.…
By Research Study Division, Kottayam Naattukoottam · Kottayam Heritage Tour
In old, history-steeped Kottayam, the traditional-style houses and places of worship still standing on both banks of the Meenachil river in ancient Thazhathangadi continue to aston…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
"On the 17th of Kumbham in the year 1030 [Malayalam Era], the bonded laborer Sirattamannu Iravi Parameswaran of Govindapuram desam, on behalf of Amrithi, a Pulayan, and Mani, a Pul…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The name Chettitheruvu — once home to the Chetty trading community until about 200 years ago — will likely be unfamiliar to the newer generation. Chettitheruvu was the street that…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
Chalukunnu was the eastern gateway to old Kottayam town. Kottayam town, during the Thekkumkur era, stretched from Chalukunnu westward to Kummanam, with Thaliyilkotta as its adminis…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
This is an idiom that has long been in use in Kottayam and its surrounding areas. It was a saying used much the way today's generation might say "epic" or "over the top" — a prover…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
Everyone in Kottayam knows that the sub-jail stands east of the police parade ground. But not everyone knows where Kottayam's very first jail once stood. That original jail was no…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
In old Kottayam, on the bank of the Meenachil river in Thazhathangadi, a large stone cross stands by the roadside. It is enclosed by a low square wall built around it. Various opin…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
By the seventeenth century, during Thekkumkur rule, a new marketplace was established in the eastern part of old Kottayam town, between Thirunakkara Hill and Narikunnu. Besides the…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
"On the 17th of Kumbham in the year 1030 [Malayalam Era]..." — no wait, this belongs to a different piece. Let me give the translation directly. The Lore of Thirunakkara A green, h…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The most famous temple in Kottayam town's Veloor Kara is Parappadam. It is a Major Temple. An elder (karanavar) of Thumbayil — a well-known Nair ancestral house in Veloor — used to…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
For the old-timers of Kottayam, the grand finale of Onam celebrations was always the Kottayam boat race — the competitive vallamkali held on the Meenachil river at Thazhathangadi!…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
It is believed that Islam started and spreading the Old Kottayam from 7th century A.D. This area was one of the early Muslim centres in Kerala. Before the era of the Prophet Mohamm…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Kottayam Heritage Tour
The Valiyapally, established in AD 1550, was the first Christian church in Kottayam town. By the tenth century, numerous Marthoma Nazrani families had already settled in Thazhathan…
By Pallikonam Rajeev · Muziris Heritage Tour
The Kodungallur Fort — now standing mostly in ruins on the northern bank of the backwater where the Chalakudy river and the Periyar meet, adjoining Kottappuram on the southern side…
Epilogues
Deeper, site-by-site accounts written by the historians who lead our journeys — read after you travel, or before.