THE FAMILY HISTORY

Ancient Kerala was known as 'Chera-Rajyam'. The capital of Chera-Rajyam was Malyankara, and one of it's rulers was a king known as Udayan cheran. It was customary in those early days for kings to choose persons from prominent families in the area is local chiefs. One such area was Vadakkan Paravur (Parur). And one prominent family in that area at the time was Arackal. King Udayan Cheran entrusted Vadakkan Paravur to the head of the Arackal family. Vadakkan Paravur was located only a short distance away from Kodungalloor.

When St. Thomas landed at Kodungalloor and began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, .a number of prominent families, or groups of people with powerful chieftans, were swayed over to Christianity. The Arackal family of Vadakkan Paravur also accepted the Christian faith from the Apostle. After a period of time, a branch of the Arackel family migrated and settled in Angamaly. By the end of the 4th century, large numbers of the Christians of Kodungalloor and Vadakkan Paravur had migrated to various interior regions of South Kerala. Arackal split again as another branch moved out and settled in Thalikkotta (Kottayam).

In the 5th Century A.D. yet another group of the Arackal family branched away and moved further interior to a place called Aruvithura. This was a crucial move. The 'Major' Migration ended with that move to Aruvithura. This ancient commercial centre of Malabar became the hub for the formation of various sub families and the growth of the Kuruvinakunnel family to it's present status. It is possible that those members of the Arackal family that migrated to Aruvithura did so because of the conve¬nience of trade, and travel by the Kavanar river now known as Meenachil river which flowed through Thalikotta (Kottayam) and Aruvithura.

With the passage of time, the Arackal family in Aruvithura rose to become one of the prominent families in the area. They began to play a decisive role in the administration of the Church and community matters. Around the 10th century, a branch of the Arackel family moved away to an area along the Meenachil river called the Vattoli-Kadavu in Bharananganam.

In the past Christians were called Nazranis. At about the same period, the leaders of the Christian community in Bharananganam considered building a Church of their own. In ancient times, the permission of the kings, or their chiefs, was necessary to build a place of worship. The lands on both sides of the river Meenachil, part of the Thekkum-Koor Kingdom, was ruled by Veera Kerala Damodara Chingar, known also as Meenachil Njavakkatt Kartha. It was the Meenachil Kartha who informed the Nazranis that he would consider their request if at least four prominent Nazrani families in the area jointly made an appeal to build a Church. The families of Bharanganam who did so were Aakkan, Arackal, Chunda and Brattiyani. They jointly sought, and obtained, permission from the Meenachil Kartha. The work on the Church began in 1004 A.D.

The land occupied by the Arackal family near Vattoli-Kadavu was a marshy, flat stretch referred to as'Chaal' in Malayalam. Thus the family began to be known as 'Chalil.' Moole-Chalil, Kokkat and Mazhuvannoor families are branches of this Chalil family.

The Nazranis had become a powerful force due to their extraordinary adventurous spirit, and their cultivation and trade in spices.

This was of great benefit to the rulers at the time, and they did not shirk in acknowledging the fact, and rewarding the Nazranis. The kings and chiefs found the Christians to be loyal subjects of great courage, in whom they had absolute trust. The Christians also had a profound effect on them in the matter of faith.

The honour accorded to the Christians by the Royalty can be gauged from the fact that, around the late 16th century, authorities of the Ampara Sri Dharma Sastha Temple believed that desecration of holy places by the untouchables could be purified by the touch of a Christian. To this end, the temple authorities offered land, free of tax, to young couples from the Chalil family to settle in Ampara.

The Chittar river which flows through Kudukany and Thidanad joins the Meenachil river at Ampara. The confluence of these two rivers was referred to as 'Corner,' and the Malayalam word for corner is 'MooleL' It was at this corner that the young Chalil couples settled, and thus they came to be known as 'Moolechalil.'

Towards the end of the 18th century, the head of the Moolechalil family residing at Ampara was a Karnavar called Mathu. There was another Christian family called Pallatt in nearby Edamattom. All the male members of this Pallatt family had left their family home. Moolechalil Mathu had seven sons. The eldest son, Ittiavira, married the eldest girl of the Pallatt family. They settled in the bride's Pallatt house. The second son was called Thomman. He built a house to the east of the main Moolechalil house, and thus it came to be called Kizhakke Moolechalil House. The third son, Mathu, married but passed away without having any children. The fifth son was called Ouseph. He .built his house to the west of the main house which c'ame to be called Padinjare-Moolechalil. The sixth son Mathai married and settled at Mandapathil at Edamattom. The seventh son, Varkey, inherited the Tharavad and lived there.

It is the fourth son who comes into prominence in our family history. Kochuthommen- was the name of the fourth son. It is this Kochuthommen -Vallippan who bought the Kuruvinakunnel property from a Nair family. This property was located close to thePaliatt family house. Kochuthommen married Thresiamma, also of Pallatt family, and she was the younger sister of his elder brother, Ittiavara's wife. We, the present Kuruvinakunnel family members are their descendents. And so it is that we acknowledge Kochuthommen Vallippan and Thresiamma Valliamma as our Karnavers at the root of our family tree.

THE GENERATIONS
At this point, it is necessary that the various generations and the different branches of the family are seperately indicated. Kochuthommen Valliappan will be identified as the first Generation. 1. The next generation will be II and so on. The various branches of the family will be listed as A, B and so on.

I. KOCHUTHOMMAN
Kochuthomman Valliappan Married Thresiamma of Edamattom Pallat. He bought the Kuruvinakkunnelproperty, settled there, and thereby began the Kuruvinakunnel line. That Vallippan and Valliamma had a son, named Thomman, and a dughter.

II. THOMMAN
This Thomman Valliappan married Thresiamma of Kokkat family of Bharanganam. They had only one son, also named Thomman. Thomman Valliappan's daughter married into the Valliaveetil family of Aruvithura, and they later settled at Vattavayalil in Edamattom.

III. THOMMAN
This third generation Thomman Valliappan married a girl called Anna. She was a member of a very distinguished family of Mepral called Poothiyott. Anna Valliamma was the daughter of a Judge. In the days of British rule, an Englishman by name 'Munro' was the Dewan of Travancore. It was the British who appointed judges to the courts in the land. And they choose only persons having a good command of English, and from prominent families. At that time, the state of Travancore had only three native judges. Two brahmins and a nair. In 1830 the Dewan appointed a Christian priest as a judge in 1850. A brilliant member of the Poothiyott family was chosen as a judge. He was, perhaps, the first local Christian layman to be appointed as a judge. Our Anna Valliamma was the daughter of this distinguished person. The Poothiyot family was considered as one of the most modern families of the time. This Valliappan and Valliamma had three sons and a daughter. They were Thomman, Kuruvilla, Varghese and Thresia.

IV A - THOMMAN (KURUVINAKKUNNEL PAPPAN) A - BRANCH
This Valliappan was the eldest of the four children. He was also called Kuruvinakkunnel Pappan. He married Rosa, from the Kanjickal family of Pulincunnoo. Valliappan and Valliamma had five daughters and one son. They were: Kochanna, Brigitha, Kunjuorotha, Kochumaria, Kochely and the youngest, a son called Joseph.

ADDENDA:- Kuruvinakunnel Pappan Valliappan bought the KOLABHAGOM Property from the KOLABHAGOM Namboothiris, built a house and settled there.

IV B - KURUVILLA, B - BRANCH
Kuruvilla married Anna Valliamma, also called Iccamma, from the Manipadam family. They had four sons and four daughters: Kochuthomman, Mathuchan, Varkey, Kuruvilla, Kochnna, Mariama, Kunjely and Kunjuorothakutty. Kuruvilla Valliappan continued to live in the Tharavad House - Veetil.

IV. C - VARGHESE
The youngest of the three sons, he became a priest and was known as Varghese Kathanar.

IV. D - THRESIA
The only girl of that generation, she was married to Chacko, from Kallivayalil, Kondooparambil family.

This then is the Kuruvinakunnel family tree up to the IVh Generation... It is a fervent hope that the following generations will continue this inspiring work and continue to record the growth and prosperity of our illustrious family for the benefit of the generations to come, Deo Volente. The roots are deep, the tree is strong, the branches spread far and wide. May the Almighty bless the flowers and fruits so that they bring joy to the family.

THE ROUTE

Now that we know our roots of our family, the route it took is also important. History shows us that it starts at Kodungalloor, moved to Aruvithura and later settled in the Meenachil area around Palai. A brief history of these places that our ancestors once lived will only enhance the understanding of our families routes.

KODUNGALLOOR

It is highly unlikely that any other port in the world has been endowed with so many nam.es. Furthermore, no matter which denomination he may be, ask any member of a prominent Nazrani family to show where his roots lie and he will head like a homing¬pigeon straight to one, just one spot namely Kodungalloor! he has every reason to, because Kodungalloor is the cradle of the Nazrani Christian community of Malabar.

Before the Christian era, Kodungallor was referred to as 'Musuris' 'Muchiris', 'Musuripatna' etc. In A.D. 77 Pliny, in his natural history,.reffered to Kodungalloor as 'Muirakottai' In the Pentigon fables, written in 225 A.D., there is mention of two legions of the Roman army and a Church in the name of 'Augustine' based in Kodungalloor. The Chera kings who ruled this region in the 8th century A.D. overan the Jain and Buddist temples that existed there at the time. Since the temples were dedicated to Mahadevan (Siva), the town came to be called Mahadevar-Patnam. This name vaccillated between 'Mahadyapuram', 'Mahotha' etc. The English called it 'Cranganore'.

The name Kodungalloor itself has a story behind it. Apparently, the name transpired from 'Kodungalloor' for the reason that the early Buddhist monks of the place were slaughtered by Aryan invaders.

Nevertheless, in spite of the glory of it's past and it's colourful galaxy of names, today Kodungalloor remains a quiet little fishing village with a statue of the Apostle standing in mute testimony of his first landing, and a shrine containing a bone from his body, brought and presented to the Christians of Kerala by his Eminence, Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, in the year 1953 A.D.

ARUVITHURA

This town would run a close second to Kodungalloor for the number of names it has been known by. But, no matter how many names it may have had - it was well known in far, far away places and centuries ago.

Just as Latin is the mother of French, so is Tamil the mother of Malayalam, Aruvithura is also called Irattupetta. The origin of Irattupetta is Irapuzha, which came from the Tamil - touched Irapulai. As recently as 1901, the records of the Aruvithura Church noted the name of the Town as Irapuzha and Irapulai we reach Irapeli! Because it is obvious that Abbeloos and co. obtained tlie name Irapeli from Tamil-effected

Malayalam of that time. And, 'L' is the alphabet used in latin and English to suit the 'Lal' and 'Zha' of Malayalam. Hence, the Irapeli of the anecdote is Irattupetta that is Aruvithura!

The history of Aruvithura is perhaps as ancient as Kodungalloor. Aruvithura was a major trading centre centuries before the arrival of St. Thomas. It's importance was linked directly with that of another major, but mysterious town up in the mountains of the western ghats. It was called Nilackel, located very near to the pilgrim centre of Sabarimala. It was also known as Chayal, and was one of the seven places chosen by the apostle, St. Thomas, to build a Church. Nilackel was very important township with a predominance of prominent Christian agriculturalists families, and serving as a collection centre for the mountain produce. The base camp se~ing Nilackel was, Aruvithura, the nerve- centre of operations in the trade and traffic of spices. And this was the reason for many of the prominent Christian families of Kodungallor migrating to Aruvithura. The Meenachil river with it's source in the mountain ranges arouna Aruvithura flowed through the centre of the town. The mountain produce would be warehoused in Aruvithura, loaded on Kettuvallams and rowed down the river, through the lakes, to the ports on the sea coast. Because of the swift down-stream currents at times they could not ply up stream. And thus, Aruvithura was the 'Port without ships.'

Then there was the trade with the Tamil Kingdom; the Chola land. From long, long back the Tamils would cross the mountain ranges along trails made by pack-Horses and Mules, set up bazaars and trade in spices in exchange for commodities from Tamil Land. To put it in proper perspective, Aruvithura, Nilackel and surroundings would have the same industrial relationship as Cochin has today with the planting districts of Peermade, Munnar and Anamalais.

The concluding factor that would thr.ow light on the history of Aruvithura can be found in the 'Areethra-Palli' (Aruvithura Church).

Over the years the Church had been rebuilt many times. Fortunately, some of the stones of the earlier Churches were used again and again in the construction of the newer Churches. Thus, some of the original stones can be found on the walls of a three –storey building now serving as residence for the Priests. One stone has an inscription which when deciphered showed that the first church was built in 151 A.D. in the name of the Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary.

MEENACHILAND PALA

The areas on the two banks of the Meenachil river, which was under the Thekkumkoor Kingdom, was ruled by the Meenachil Njavakatt Kartha known as Kerala Damodara Chingar. The rulers of that period had close ties wnh the Tamil Land. Mathura-Meenakshi is a blessed Diety of the Tamils. This bond of the Tamils with the Malayalee turned 'Meenakshi' into 'Mennechi' and Meenachi + 'IL' became 'Meenachil.' 'IL' is the 'ILLAM' of Malayalam, the word for the abode of high caste Hindus.

In 1736 A.D. The Meenachil Kartha established a settlement on the northen bank of the Meenachil river and named it 'Palangadi.' The picturesque northern bank was considered equable to pristine beauty and so it was referred to as 'Palazhi.' Perhaps it sounded too sweet for the later inhabitants for, with the passage of time, they condensed it to 'Palai.'