Ancestral House
Aayiraveedu Tharavadu, also known as Aryaveedu, an aristocratic Nair family with the surname Elayadom, residing at Puthiya Road, Palarivattom, Edappally South Village, Ernakulam District, Kerala for more than 300 years. It is believed that the family got the name Aayiraveedu, as they were the landlords of more than thousand families. Today, the family is spread across in areas like Puthiya Road, Vennala and Kakkanad. Many of them are now living in other States and abroad.
Origin
The family had its origins in the North Malabar and were earlier part of the Azhvanchery Thamprakkal’s lineage. A section of the family had migrated down south and settled near the Thirumuppam Temple, North Paravur. Those days like most of the families, they too indulged in agriculture. Once while supervising the farming, one of the Karanavars ploughed the field along with the workers and this incident resulted in conferring the surname Elayadom upon them by the then Naaduvazhi. From that time onwards the male members of the family are entitled Elayadom and the women as Appachiamma. Nowadays, women are commonly referred to as Kunjamma.
More than 300 years ago, a branch of the family migrated from Thirumuppam and settled near the Kuthappadi Shastha temple at Palarivattom, Edapally South Village, Ernakulam District. Being the feudal lords of the locality, apart from agriculture, the family established and run Kalari (martial arts). The family name Aayiraveedu was adopted after settling down here. Kalari Bhadrakali was the Dharma Devatha of the family.
Over time, the family got settled near Puthiya Road where the ancestral home now exists. Mullakkal Bhagawathi and her entourage were entrusted to the Aryaveedu Karanavar by a Brahmin family who resided there. The Karanavar took utmost care to satiate the Bhagawathi and Thevara murthis – Panchamurthis, Ganapathi, Hanuman – as Dharma Devatha along with Kalari Bhadrakali.
Kalari Bhadrakali was consecrated on Sreechakra and installed under the pedestal of the idol of Bhagawathi and worshipped as Bhuvaneshwari in the morning and Satvika Bhadrakali in the evening. After that the family prospered further with the blessings of the Deity.
Lots of Elayadom families are spread over various places in Kerala.
Known History
According to the available information, the present day Aryaveedu family members are descendants of Karanavar Kunjunni Elayadom and his sister Parukutty Appachiamma. They had another sibling Ayyappan Elayadom, a bachelor who had gone on a pilgrimage at a very young age and never returned back.
Kuttanappilly is another aristocratic Nair family, with the surname ‘Panicker‘, residing at Vennala near to Aryaveedu Tharavaadu. The Kuttanappilly Nanku Kunjamma had three children-Velayudha Panicker, Lakshmi Kunjamma and Krishna Panicker.
The siblings Velayudha Panicker and Lakshmi Kunjamma, married Parukutty Appachiamma and Kunjunni Elayadom respectively. With these marriages between the siblings of both families, the kinship doubled and tripled between Aryaveedu and Kuttanappily. Everyone in Aryaveedu today is a descendant of Kuttanapilly Velayudha Panicker and most of the members of the present day Kuttanapilly family are descendants of Aryaveedu Kunjunni Elayadom.
Velayudha Panicker-Parukutty Appachiamma, had Kutty Appachiamma, Kunjulakshmi Appachiamma, Kavukutty Appachiamma, Narayani Appachiamma and Krishnan Elayadom; Kunjunni Elayadom-Lakshmi Kunjamma had Parameswara Panicker, Parukutty Kunjamma, Kuttappa Panicker, Narayana Panicker and Manku Kunjamma as offsprings.
The Aryaveedu genealogy is an extension from these ten children. The genealogy of each of them is given below in detail.
Kunjunni Elayadom (1854 – 1917) – The first known Karnavar, from the presently available documents of the Aryaveedu family. He was a well-known satvik and an earnest worshipper of Aryaveedu Bhagavathi, Lord Subrahmanya and other Deities.
Under his initiative and orchestration, feast, festivals, pilgrimage to Sabarimala, Palani and other places were organized among family members and the other families around the region. Aryaveedu was the main hub, where all activities used to take place. Families from far and near and neighborhood used to be part of these events.
He conferred the Karnavar position to Velayudha Panicker, when he turned fully into the path of Bhakti, Upasana and Devotion. Many of the rituals started by Kunjunni Elayadom are still practiced by the family till date.
(Please click on the below pictures to know more..)
Genealogy of Kunjunni Elayadom and Lakshmi Kunjamma
Velayudha Panicker (1854 – 1945) – He was the Karnavar of Kuttanappilly when Kunjunni Elayadom was the Karnavar of Aryaveedu. Later he took the reins of both the Tharavadus Karnavar position and administered the Tharavadu and the locality very successfully.
He was an established, respected, authoritative Landlord of the region. As “Karakku Ashanmar”, he managed the Kalari (training center for martial arts) near Vennala to train and recruit soldiers to the Travancore Rulers.
His nephew, Parameswara Panicker, always accompanied him in all activities and got adequate training to take the Karanavar position of both the families. He, like Kunjunni Elayadom, turned to Upasana and Worship when Parameswara Panicker became capable of handling the Karnavar position of both families.
(Please click on the below pictures to know more..)
Genealogy of Velayudha Panicker and Parukutty Appachiamma
Conclusion
Details of only four generations from Kunjunni Elayadom have been mentioned in the above sections. After that three more generations are on board. Their details are included in the Family Tree.
Nine marriages have taken place between Aryaveedu and Kuttanapilly in the four generations mentioned above. Kunjunni Elayadom – Lakshmi Kunjamma, Velayudha Panicker – Parukutty Appachiamma, Kunjulakshmi Appachiamma – Padmanabha Panicker, Parameswara Panicker – Narayani Appachiamma, Krishnan Elayadom – Lakshmi Kunjamma, Narayana Panicker – Parukutty Kunjamma, Velayudhan Elayadom – Vilasini Kunjamma, Gopala Panicker – Radhamani Kunjamma and Muraleedharan Elayadom – Lalitha Kunjamma.
From the above marriages, it is evident that members of Aryaveedu and Kuttanapilly families belong to the same lineage. For the same reason, the Karanavar of the family had unified the customs and rituals followed in both the families and in the family temples respectively.
By late 1960’s, the family moved from Marumakkathaayam (matrilineal system) to Makkathaayam (patrilineal system) as par with the Kerala Hindu Act and joint family system gave away to the nuclear family. As a natural progression of these transitions, the family property got partitioned but it did not dilute the strong bond between the members of these huge family.
At present though most of the family members are scattered around the area or settled in different parts of Kerala, other states or overseas, most times they try to align their vacations in conjunction with festivals / get together associated with the family temple / family and make it a point to attend these occasions. This is keeping the family still bounded, united and in connect through different generations.