Place:Tiruvalla, Kerala, India

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Tiruvalla is an inhabited place.

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Thiruvalla, alternately spelled Tiruvalla, is a town in Kerala and also the headquarters of the Taluk of same name located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of 27.94 km. It lies on the banks of the river Pamba and river Manimala, and is a land-locked region surrounded by irrigating streams and rivers.

Thiruvalla is regarded as the "Land of Non resident Indians ".Thiruvalla is Considered As The Commercial Capital Of Central Travancore due its Vibrant Economic Activity.It Is Also The Financial Capital Of Central Travancore . The age group above 40 makes up almost 54% of the town's population. Thiruvalla is also famous for the dance of Kathakali, which is hosted in the Sreevallabha temple almost every day in a year. The Nedumpuram Palace near Thiruvalla belongs to Valluvanad Royal family, who were originally the rulers of Angadippuram in present-day Malappuram district.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

This article is primarily about the history of the settlements in areas of the present city around the temple, known historically as Thiruvalla. For the history of the places in Thiruvalla, also refer History of Niranam, History of Koipuram, History of Kumbanad, History of Kavumbhagom.

Ancient period

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the area had been inhabited since 500 BCE, although an organized settlement was only founded around 800 CE. The present-day areas of Niranam, and Kadapra on the western part of Thiruvalla were submerged under the sea before then.^[1] It is one of the 64 ancient brahmana graamams.

Stone axes have been reported from Thiruvalla, belonging to Neolithic Age. Thiruvalla has many Neolithic remains and got civilized earlier. The Aryan culture presented Thiruvalla as one of the 64 Brahmin settlements of Kerala, and one of the important too. Ptolemy mentions the Baris river, the present "Pamba" river.

Thiruvalla was also an important commercial centre with the Niranam port in olden days, which is described by Pliny as "Nelcynda". At this light, the "Bacare" could have been modern "Purakkad". The fact that modern western Thiruvalla contains the coastal kind of sand, and several seashells in the soil despite being landlocked proves that prior to the reclamation of Kuttanad from sea, Niranam and the whole western Thiruvalla could have been a coastal area.^[1]

The Growth to Feudalism

Up to the beginning of the 10th century CE, Ays were the dominant powers in Kerala. The Ay kings ruled from Thiruvalla in the North to Nagercoil in the South. Ptolemy mentions this as from Baris (Pamba River) to Cape Comorin "Aioi" (Kanyakumari).^[2] By 12th century, we get the picture from the Thiruvalla copper plates, which are voluminous records that centre around the social life around the temple.^[2] The society The Thiruvalla temple had a large Vedic learning school (actually comparable to modern university) ("Thiruvalla salai"), which was one of the foremost learning centres in Kerala. The Thiruvalla salai was one of the richest among the Vedic schools of Kerala, and according to the copper plates, the pupils of the school were fed with 350 nazhis of paddy every day,^[3] which shows the vastness of its student population. Thiruvalla held a very eminent position among the spiritual and educational centres in ancient times. The Sri Vallabha Temple was one of the wealthiest temples of ancient Kerala, as is evident from the inscriptions in the plates. The part of the temple land required to 'feed the Brahmins' required 2.1 million litres of rice seeds, and for the "maintenance of the eternal lamps" required more than 340,000 litres of paddy seed capacity. Due to the length, the antiquity and the nature of the language, Thiruvalla copper plates form the "First book in Malayalam", according to Prof. Elamkulam.

Early Modern period

The rulers of Thiruvalla now belonged to the Thekkumkoor Dynasty, which had one of its headquarters at Idathil near Kaavil Temple. Idathil (Vempolinadu Edathil Karthavu) was the family name of the Thekkumkoor kings. Today's Paliakara Palace is a branch of Lakshmipuram Palace of Changanacherry, which is a branch of Alikottu Kovilakam of Pazhancherry in Malabar. Similarly, Nedumpuram Palace is a branch of Mavelikkara Palace is an heir to the Valluvanad tradition of South Malabar.

The Thekkumkoor kings lost their control in the course of time and Vilakkili (വിലക്കിലി) Nampoothiris were rulers in 1752–53 when Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the king of Travancore, seized it in a bloody battle in which the ruler was killed, though some dispute it, saying the surrender was peaceful as the Namboothiris were not naive to challenge the mighty army of Ramayyan, the shrewd and sadistic Dalava (ദളവ)- head of administration and advisor – of Travancore.

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