Kerala Iyer Sub Groups - by migration

Kerala  Iyer  Sub Groups - by migration

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

There  are three  very important   groups of Tamil Iyers   who have   settled  down in Kerala –Palakkad iyers,  Pandi iyers and Trivandrum Iyers

Palakkad iyers

       Among the three groups  , this perhaps   is the largest .Uddanda  Sastrigal  who went to Zamorin’s court   and became the chief poet  there may  be one of the first.There are lot of theories   as to how  and why   Tamil Brahmins   went to Palakkad, Most of them seemed to have migrated  from Thanjavur   district of Tamil Nadu. The Logan’s Malabar Manual  mentions that  if a Tamil Brahmin   enters Malabar   with a head load of materials , there  is no tax for it , Though  they  did settle  down initially in Palakkad  , they moved  to Cochin state   and Malabar .There  is no story of them migrating  to Travancore except   for studying  in college  or studying music .

Pandi iyers

      These group of Iyers    are supposed to have migrated  to Kerala through Shenkota pass and settled down in nearby areas .Later   they spread   to  Ernakulam   and also Trichur , They kept themselves as a separate   group and have separate  samoohams  in these cities. The sastha  preethi in Kerala  was introduced   by them

Travancore iyers

      These  iyers are mainly   from Tirunelveli   district  of Tamil Nadu. Since Trivandrum was  the nearest  town to Tirunelveli district    amd also because  Scholars in music  and Vedas   were  emcouraged  by  Travancore kings , large number of them settled down there . This group  of people  maintained  their connection with Their   people in Tamil nadu for most of the time. Ramayyan Dalawai who was  a minister  of Marthanda  Verma  was  one of them. Large number of them were  lawyers and Musicians in Travancore.