History of Kerala - Ettuveetil Pillamaar / എട്ടു വീട്ടിൽ പിള്ളമാർ (lord of eight houses)

//Googling a lot on the subject is recommended. History is just an insight into the past and is not recommended to be believed, based on one article or WhatsApp forwards. ;) Intention is to just provide basics about the subject and a simple guide to a topic in history //


In the 16th century or even before, the Padmanabhaswamy temple was managed by a board of members called Yogakkar under the control of King. The yogakkar divided the temple land into 8 districts. A Nair nobleman was assigned to each of these eight districts. These Nair noblemen were called as Ettuveetil pillamaar. 

Ettara Yogam

The Ettara Yogam was a meeting set up conducted, to decide on the temple activities. The members included 8 trustees under the direct control of King. The trustees included:

• 6 Potty Brahmin families,
• Pushpanjali Swamiyar of Naduvil Madhom / Munchira Madhom 
• Palliyadi Karanatha Kurup or Azhakath Kurup, the Nair nobleman

The yogam/meeting was named Ettara (eight and a half) since the King also had Half vote. So total 8 +0.5.

Even though all the management decisions were taken by the trustees, no decisions were approved without the final sanction from the King.

Yogakkar vs the King

The difference of opinion between the King and the Yogakkars were common and eventually led to conflicts. The combined power of Pillamar and Yogakkar posed a serious threat to the King.

Ettuveetil Pillamar

The ettuveetil pillamaar enjoyed the supreme power and eventually planned to get rid of the royal family itself. They successfully executed assassination of the King and even plotted and executed assassination of others from the Royal family who could become the next King. The crookedness of Pillamar continued until Marthanda Varma came into power. 

End of ettuveetil Pillamaar era

The power of pillamaar was dethroned by Marthanda Varma. As per historical studies, pillamaars were either killed or exiled. There are even conclusions that members of pillamaar family sought asylum in neighboring states and some even converted to Christianity.

Some interesting comments (related to pillamaar family's conversion to Christianity and also on asylum in neighboring states) from a blog related to Kerala history :

Bandipur tiger reserve - Details on place, stay and bit more.

Bandipur nation park is one of the best destinations from Bangalore, to spend a weekend; provided you are okay with a normal-decent stay and like to chill out with deer, monkeys, and co.!

The place is around 250 km from Bangalore and takes around 5 hours to reach. 

Welcome board

Rather than a one day trip, it is worth to extend a little and spend a night at Bandipur tiger reserve jungle lodge which is a neat budget friendly place managed by Govt of Karnataka.

Price details:

Cottage - 1600 per room (GST and 250₹ forest entry per person extra). 

Safari -  100 per head for bus and 4500₹ for  Gypsy. Up to 6 people can travel in this open gypsy.

Tips ;) :Forest entry of 250₹ per head needs to be paid extra if you are booking safari alone separately. So book safari along with the room booking to avoid paying forestry charge twice. Price is excluding GST.

Also, don't book at Vanshree cottages as it is near to the canteen and does not give you much privacy.

The cottages are pretty old, built in 1959 and are renovated periodically. So, do not ever expect a luxury stay. 

Only one restaurant is available and it just provides basic food and variety is limited to fried rice with some curry!

Some pics of cottages below:

The place is almost conquered by monkeys and they sneak in every corner possible. Be it at the parking lot, restaurant/canteen or outside your room.

One from the parking lot 

Langur's evening assembly in front of cottages

Monkeys drooling over the food outside the restaurant 

Pigzos in front of the cottage

Early morning, right outside your windows, there might be a surprise visit by elephants, wild buffaloes gang etc. 

HD pic of buffalo gang

Small guy

Deers are a common sight and you might lose the aww feel after seeing them a lot.  Actually, no, they are damn cute! At night, the entire area gets crowded with deers. They seek shelter at the cottage area to escape from tiger attacks.

Masinagudi and Mudumalai

Once you reach Bandipur, after check-in you can take out 3 hours and plan for a drive to Masinagudi via Mudumalai tiger reserve. 
Tips: On the way, don't get cheated by the jeep drivers who might offer you to take torestricted areas where we cannot access! In reality, there is nothing like that!

Also, similar to Bandipur, govt cottages are available at Mudumalai too. Haven't been there, hence not sure about where and how it is.

Some pics - Somewhere in Masinagudi

After the trip, be sure to reach back the cottage by 6 PM as the check post closes by 6 or so.

We had planned for the safari the next day early morning. Near to the counter see the list of animals spotted in the day previous days. The safari was enjoyable but unluckily we could not spot any animals other animals other than our regular guys (deer, buffalo, elephant).
No complaints.  It all depends upon our time. :D

Some Safari pics:

On the way back....

On the way back to Bangalore, you can have fun at Sunflower gardens and also at Chanapatna where you can do some wooden toys shopping.

The place is not seasonal and in each season, you get to see different look and feel of the forest.