Tharavad, also spelled as Tharavadu (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic families[1] [2] in Kerala, it is common among Nair Hindus[3], which usually served as the common residence for the matrilineal joint family under the Marumakkathayam system practiced in the state.[4] [5] German linguist Hermann Gundert, in his Malayalam—English dictionary published in 1872, defines a Tharavadu as, "An ancestral residence of land-owners and kings", and also as, "A house, chiefly of noblemen".[6] It was classically the residence of Jenmimar, but contemporary usage of the word is now more generic to all social classes and religions in Kerala.[7] By extension, the word refers not just to the family's house but to the extended family that shares that house. Heads of tharavadus - usually the eldest living male - were known as Karnavars, and junior members as Anandravans.
Inseparable from the traditional concept of a tharavad is, historically, Kerala's distinctive Nālukettu architectural tradition. A classic Nalukettu tharavad would be built with four halls, each with a defined purpose, and collectively enclosing a Nadumuttam, or open-air courtyard. Wealthier and more prominent tharavads would construct mansions with multiple such atria, such as the eight-halled Ettukettu, with two nadumuttams, or Pathinarukettu, sixteen-halled with four nadumuttams, and the preserve of royal families and tharavads of similar rank. Rarely, twelve-halled Pathrandukettu were constructed. with three courtyards,[8] and there is a record of a 32-halled Muppathirandukettu being erected, although it was lost to a fire soon after construction.[9]