Kerala Agraharam

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The word agraharam has various etymological meanings. It indicates the conglomeration (haram) of the first among the four varnas (castes). Agraharam also indicates a cluster of houses with a temple of Shiva on the agram (extreme tip) of the street. Agraharams are inherently inhabited by the Brahmin's.

The Kalpathy village located in the heart of Palakkad town is famous for its agraharam. Records prove the antiquity of the agraharam on the banks of the Nila (Bharathapuzha). A stone inscription at the Kalpathy Viswanatha Swamy Temple has been dated to AD 1425. The agraharam here is believed to have been established by Brahmins from Tanjore.

The story is that the Palakkad Brahmins refused to offer ritualistic services to the then rulers and so the rulers invited Tamil Brahmins to Kerala and gifted them land. The migrations were from two different centers of Tamil Nadu – Tirunelveli and Tanjore. Thus 18 Agraharams were established in Palakkad. Kalpathy is the oldest and most prominent. It can be regarded as a typical agraharam.

The two old agraharams of Old and New Kalpathy are separated by the Viswanatha Swamy Temple in the east and the Lakshmi Narayana Temple in the west. These villages were carefully laid out to enable the residents of all the houses to get a `darshan' of the temples at the end of their respective streets.

The villages were also built along the river.

The agraharams were constructed according to its own principles of architecture. Each house opened out into the street and each had a vasal-thinnai, which led to the ul-thinnai, rezhi, thazhvaram, adukkalai and kottil. Many of the agraharams had small inner courtyards, which provided adequate daylight to the rooms. Some of the agraharams are;

* Kuzhalmannam Agraharam, Palakkad
* Kizhakkencherry Gramam, Palakkad
* Vadakkencherry Gramam, Palakkad
* Thekke Gramam, Chittur, Palakkad
* Padinjare Gramam, Palakkad
* Agraharam in Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram