Chendamangalam
Grama Panchayat

Chendamangalam is the abode of the Paliyathachans, who traditionally held the post of Prime Minister of the Cochin Kingdom from 1663 to 1809 AD. There are references to Chendamangalam in Sangam period works and Chilapathikaram. The poem Kokasandesha mentions Chendamangalam and the Arangav temple. The heroine of Uddanda Shastri's Sanskrit work Kokila Sandesha is said to belong to the 'Marakkara' house in Chendamangalam. It can be assumed that Chendamangalam is Jayanthamangalam or Choornamangalam.

Jayanthamangalam means Vishnu. The fact that there is a famous Vishnu temple here gives more strength to the place name.. Another name for Periyar is Choorni. It is said that Chendamangalam was also called Villarvattom, meaning the banks of Periyar. It is stated in the commentary on Kokilasandesha by Kanjukuttan Thampuran of Kodungallur that the Villarvattom kings were Kshatriyas and that since the last king had converted to Christianity, the King of Cochin deposed him and gave the position to Paliyathachan.

It is stated in some Christian literature, Christian history and in Sardar K.M. Panikkar's book 'Malabarum Portuguese' that Villarvattom was a Christian state. In Jesuits in Malabar Volume 1, it is recorded that Rajathoma, the King of Villarvattom, died on 2nd January 1450 AD. It is known from the Paliyan texts that the Villarvattom swaroop, a branch of the Cochin royal family, was the dominant one in the 16th century, and that the Vaishnava temple on the top of the Kovilakam hill in Kottayil was located in the courtyard of that swaroop. The Villarvattom swaroop disappeared over time. The surviving swaroop, Ramavarma Apatiri, was related to the Paliyan family, a lord of Chendamangalam. According to the ‘Attiperola Kariya’ written by the above-mentioned Apatiri swaroop in 1595, it is seen in an ancient Paliyan document that he transferred the properties and powers under his control to his father and the Thampis as a gift.

It is mentioned in the Keralalpathi that when the last Cheraman Perumal divided his kingdom, he gave the King of Cochin 52 katams of land and 18 nobles, and one of the nobles was Paliamthachan. The said 52 katams of land belonged to Vannari in Ponnani taluk. There are historical records that the original family of Paliam was there.

In 1654, the Paliam family was ruled by Kompi, a clever and statesmanlike Komiachan. During the reign of Komiachan II (1730-1779), a treaty was made between Travancore and Cochin at the Suchindram temple, which is known as Achan Pramanam. The essence of the treaty was that Cochin and Travancore should live in harmony. There was a saying in Central Kerala that after Kovilakam, Paliam. The Chendamangalam Government High School was given to the government unconditionally by the Paliam family in 1952 for a fee of one rupee. Two tablets found in Paliam were published in the Travancore Archaeological Series in 1910 and 1912. One of these is a document of a treaty signed by the Cochin royal family with Lantakumpanji (Dutch East India Company) on 22 March 1663. The other is by the Ai king Vikramaditya Varaguna. It is a document of his donation of a large amount of land to the Bhattarakkaras at Thirumulapada. It is indicated that the date of this is the 9th century A.D. The Thirumulapada mentioned in the tablet is the famous Buddhist monastery of Srimoolavasam in South India. Historian V.V.K. Valath suggests that Ilango Adigal, the younger brother of the Jain Chera king Nedum Cheralathan, composed the Chilapathikaram, one of the Tamil Panchamahakavyas, at Chendamangalam. The influence of Jainism and Buddhism is evident in these works. The influence of Buddhism during the Sangha period can also be understood from the document found in the palace of Paliyatachchan, known as the Paliyam-Sasanam, in which Vikramaditya Varaguna donated land to the monks of the Sreemulavasam Buddhist monastery. Many historians have recorded that Jews had arrived in Kerala even before the arrival of Thomas the Apostle. During the reign of the Villarvatta kings from 427 to 1595 AD, when the mountain waters submerged Chendamangalam and its surroundings, Kovilakam became their temporary capital at the fort. The last two kings of Villarvattam, who were a Hindu royal family, converted to Christianity under the name of Thomas. The Cochin State Manual states that Iravi Komi Achan, who ruled Paliyam in 1585, was the son of Ramavarma, the last king of Villarvattam. It is mentioned in the Keralalpathi that when the last Cheraman Perumal divided his empire into three, he gave the King of Cochin fifty-two katams of land, 18 nobles and 42 ministers, and the chief among them was Paliaththachan. Kochi