| Group: | Kerala Iyers |
| Popplace: | Palakkad district, Kerala Travancore Region (Thiruvananthapuram district, Alappuzha district), Kerala Thrissur district, Kerala Ernakulam district, Kerala Calicut district, Kerala |
| Languages: | Tamil, Malayalam |
| Religions: | Hinduism |
| Related: | Iyers, Namboothiris, Tamil Brahmin |
Kerala Iyers, Pattars or Bhattars are Hindu Brahmins of the Indian state of Kerala; people who were residents in the Kerala region. The community consists of two groups: the Palakkad Iyers and the Iyera of the Cochin and Travancore regions.[1]
Kerala Iyers, like the Iyers of Tamil Nadu and the Nambudiris of Kerala, belonged to the Pancha-Dravida classification of India's Brahmin community. They mostly belonged to the Vadama and Brahacharanam sub-sects. Iyers were usually not recruited as the priest (shanthi) in Kerala temples which followed Tantric rituals. So Iyers being Vedic scholars built their own temples in their Agraharams to conduct puja, since they followed different rituals and not the Tantric rituals of the Nambudiris.[2]
Where ever they settled, the Kerala Iyers lived together in communities. The settlement consisting of array of houses and other amenities developed by Tamil Brahmins in Kerala came to be known as Agraharam as in other parts of South India. Each Agraharam consist of two rows of houses facing each other. There is no courtyard but only common street. Several such Agraharams together form an organization called "Samooham".[3] There existed 95 Agraharams in Kerala where Brahmins lived in peace, with unity, equality and simplicity.[4]
The Palakkad Iyers were greatly affected by the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill, (repealed in 1961 and substituted by The Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963) which abolished the tenancy system.[5]
During the rule of Travancore kings, many Iyers (Tamil Brahmins) migrated to Thiruvananthapuram. Tamil Iyers migrated mostly from Tirunelveli to Thiruvanathapuram. The ancestors of the Thiruvananthapuram Iyers were brought from “Brahmadesam" (a village in Ambasamudram Taluk of Modern day Thirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu) by the Travancore Kings, to take part in the “Mura Japam” ritual of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple. The Mura Japam ritual is a ritual where Brahmins with Sanskrit Veda knowledge participate.The migration continued for decades, and thus Iyer population is concentrated around this temple in Thiruvananthapuram.They were given agraharams around the temple and the fort, as well as in Karamana Agraharam and Chalai Agraharam.[6]
The Kerala Brahmana Sabha is the apex organization of Kerala Iyers.