Epilogue
By Pallikonam Rajeev
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 people, or its ruling class has so far been available from existing historical texts.
The only authoritative references to the chieftains who ruled this land come from the Perunna inscription and a few other epigraphic sources. On this subject, the late renowned historian Dr. M.N. Namboothiri was known to have held considerable insight, and what I had heard from him helped reinforce some of my own earlier assumptions.
A stone inscription in Vattezhuthu script dated AD 1079, found at the famous Perunna Subrahmanya Swami Temple, contains a reference to Aadichan Kotha, the ruler of Munjanad. The inscription's content concerns arrangements for the temple festival at Perunna. It states that Njavakkattu Kaimal (also called Njavalkkattu Ethirankaviran), a local chieftain (madampi) entrusted with agricultural land under Aadichan Kotha's authority in Munjanad, was to cultivate paddy and use it to feed Brahmins during the festival season — and that if Aadichan Kotha refused to grant the land, Ethirankaviran was to find land elsewhere and cultivate it instead.
The areas near Kottayam stretching from Ramapuram in the north to Vakathanam in the south must have remained part of Munjunad until the late twelfth century. Munjunad's boundaries were the Sahya mountains (Western Ghats) to the east, Vembanad Lake to the west, Vembolinad to the north, Keezhmalanad to the northeast, Nanruzhainad to the southeast, and Thiruvattuvaynad to the southwest. However, there are also observations suggesting that Vembalanad extended into the lower regions of Kuttanad adjoining Vembanad Lake. Given that the Munjunad king's kalari (martial training ground) and residence (idam) were located at the southern slope of Kottamala in Kurinji, on the Pala–Thodupuzha route, it must be assumed that the present-day Meenachil region and the eastern parts of Vadakkumkur also fell within Munjunad at that time. It can be understood from the Perunna inscription that the Kaimal was subordinate to Aadichan Kotha of Munjunad precisely because local administrative authority over the Meenachil region had been vested in the Njavakkattu Kaimal. It is a matter of curiosity for historical researchers that both figures held responsibilities toward the Perunna temple's festival, even though the temple lay outside the kingdom's southern border.
The chieftains of Munjunad governed under the direction of the Kottayam Thali, the Brahmin assembly. It may also be assumed that the Munjunad royal lineage did not belong to the Kshatriya tradition. The rulers of Munjunad were likely a power that had risen from among Nair landlords who were highly skilled in the martial arts.
The end of Perumal rule was, in truth, not merely a consequence of the Chola invasions. The other side of this story is that as the Nangu Thalis expanded into the Pathinettara Thalis (eighteen-and-a-half Thalis), and as Brahmin villages and Ooranmas gained full ownership over paddy-growing land, and as local chieftains became fully subordinate to the Brahmins, and as the caste system came to be established as the social order, decentralization of power became possible, and the leadership of the Perumal became irrelevant. It was amid this reorganization of the local kingdoms that smaller principalities merged into the more powerful Kshatriya-lineage dynasties. The old eighteen nadus later became twelve. It was in this way that a portion of Kalkarainadu, along with Karunadu, Munjunad, Nanruzhainad, and Thiruvattuvaynad, merged into Vembolinadu in central Kerala. This may sometimes have happened because the rulers of these principalities grew weak, or because their royal families died out. In any case, it is clear that behind these decisions lay the interests of the Brahmins, who were the true power holders of the time.
Some earlier historians have written that the Thekkumkur king conquered the kingdom by subjugating the Munjunad king who ruled from Kottayam, but this does not appear to be entirely accurate. There are indications that a divided rule — splitting Vembalanadu's territory into southern and northern portions known as Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur — already existed even during the Perumal era. However, the merger of the aforementioned nadus took place before the kingdom was divided and a mud fort built between the two, marking the start of independent rule by each.
Even during the period when Thekkumkur began its rule with Vennimala as its capital, control over Kottayam Thangadi and the farmland to its west remained with the rulers of Munjunad — meaning their authority had, by then, been reduced to that of local chieftains. Certain palm-leaf manuscripts (thaliyolas) that survive indicate that it was the king of Munjunad who invited the earliest Nazranis of Kottayam Thangadi and granted them permission to settle there. That families among them continued to maintain this sense of obligation toward the descendants of Munjunad even in later generations serves as further evidence of this.
By the fourteenth century, as Thekkumkur's complete dominance over Kottayam became established, Munjunad withdrew and was reduced to the status of chieftaincy over Veloor desam. It was then that we see the "Munjanad Panicker," subordinate to Thekkumkur, emerge as commander of the army. Members of that family lineage were known, up until the last generation, by the hereditary title Aadichan Kotha. Today, the descendants of the Munjunad rulers reside in Veloor, Kottayam.
According to the Perunna inscription, the family of Njavakkattu Kaimal — who had been entrusted with agricultural responsibility over Aadichan Kotha's land in Munjanad — later had Kshatriyas from outside the region settled among them. These settlers came to be known as the Meenachil Karthas, were appointed to ministerial positions under Thekkumkur, and continued as chieftains of the Meenachil region.
The descendants of the Munjanad Panicker, belonging to the family lineage of the Munjunad chieftains, live today on the southern side of the Pallikkonam Cherickal land in Veloor Kara. The old ancestral home and sacred serpent grove (sarpakkavu) stand on the western bank of the Pallikkonam canal, while the martial training ground (kalari) and its temple stand on the eastern bank. Preserved in the ancestral home, in memory of the forebears who served for generations as military commanders, is the ceremonial sword (ulwal) they once used.
The Sree Bhuvaneshwari Devi temple, consecrated at the Munjanad kalari grounds, has now been renovated and restored to fresh splendor. To the northeast of the kalari grounds once lay the "Kaalakkandam" — land granted by royal decree of the Thekkumkur king for the upkeep of the sacred bull of Thirunakkara Temple — which has since passed out of the family's hands.
Before the establishment of the Sree Bhuvaneshwari temple at Munjanad, this site was simply the traditional military training ground (kalari) of the Munjanad Panickers, used across generations. The Munjanad Panicker trained the young Nair men of the Veloor area in weaponry for the Thekkumkur army. About eighteen such kalaris existed across various regions of the Thekkumkur kingdom, and they would be coordinated together whenever the threat of war arose. Among them were the kalari of Nainadathu Panicker in Eera, the kalari of Vazhappattu Panicker in Changanassery, the kalari of Nandikkattu Panicker in Vakathanam, the kalari of Kuruppamveetil Kaimal in Aymanam, the kalari of Ancheri Poonoos Mappila in Eramalloor, and the kalari of Unnimathu Tharakan in Kanjirappally — these being just a few examples.
The Thekkumkur king would occasionally visit the Munjanad kalari to observe the military training conducted there. The king would travel from the "Idathil" at Thaliyilkotta, exit through the southern fort gate, reach the lower Idam, and from there board a boat propelled by pole at "Kottayam Kadavu" to reach the kalari.
Because the Munjanad Panicker held the position of chief military commander during the era of royal rule, he and his family enjoyed great standing and influence in the Veloor region at that time. Authority over the temples of Eruthikkal, Parappadam, and Bhamasseri in the Veloor area was also vested in them.
Before the fifteenth century, when the Thekkumkur royal dynasty built its palace beside the Kottayam Thali and made it their capital, an Azhvancheri Thamprakkal who served as the Thaliyathiri (head priest) of the Kottayam Thali would daily worship his personal deity, Sree Bhuvaneshwari, along with Ganapati, Shiva, Mahavishnu, Subrahmanyan, Dharmasastha, Bhadrakali, and Sankaranarayanan. After that revered sage passed away, proper worship of the idols kept in the storeroom (ara) of the Munjanad ancestral home lapsed, and for many years these images lay forgotten and abandoned within the storeroom, unknown to anyone.
Later, these idols were brought out, a temple was built, and they were formally consecrated. This temple stands adjoining the kalari grounds. All eight deities are seated together in a single row upon the same pedestal within one sanctum.