It was raining hard. Hospital Road in Tripunithura was busy and noisy as usual. A narrow lane forks leading to a sprawling property.
In the middle of this verdant land stands Nedumparambil Illam, a place that breathes history. Huge, ancient trees provide a canopy to the building. It is damp inside.
The front room and the naalukettu, which houses a temple, is damp. There is an overpowering musty smell that one usually associates with these ancient buildings.
Nedumparambil Illam is over 140 years old. It is regarded as an architectural marvel. It is built with wood, laterite bricks and lime. The heavy doors have wooden hinges and there are no iron nails used anywhere. A space that once housed a granary takes up a lot of place in the illam, the ceilings are marked by intricate woodwork. Outside there is a pond, not very well maintained, and a kaavu. Members of the family believe that it must have been built around 400 years ago.
This illam is also historically important because this family was destroyed by the last smartha vicharam and the consequent excommunication or ostracism ( Bhrashtu ). It was also the scene of tragic events that unfolded after the Maharaja pronounced the verdict that three men and the woman found guilty be excommunicated from their respective communities. And one of the men was from Nedumparambil Illam.
This last smartha vicharam or ritualistic trial of a Namboodiri woman and fellow adulterers, involved Savithri, also called Thaathri, who was married to Elampankodath Vishnu Thraathan Namboodiri. Those ostracised in this case were Thaathri, her four children, Raman Menon, Vasudevan Bhattathiri and Nedumparambil Cheriya Krishnan Namboodiri, along with his four children.
Krishnan Namboodiri was hardly 12 or 13 when this happened. He was sent at the age of seven to Elampankodath Illam to learn the Vedas. His guru was Vishnu Thraathan Namboodiri. Many years after he left the illam his guru died. The guru’s step-son is supposed to have suspected the morals of his step-mother and complained to the Maharaja. This led to the smartha vicharam which implicated the young Krishnan, who had by then been married and was a father of three children. Krishnan Namboodiri committed suicide the night the verdict came. His wife, Devaki Antharjanam, who was pregnant, left the house along with her three children who were excommunicated. The family line faced extinction. Later, they adopted a Namboodiri boy, after which the family tree grew.
“One of those three children, a victim of this inquisition was the late AMN Chakyar. His landmark work Avasanathe Smarthavicharam , the Malayalam translation of The Last Inquisition , recalls the injustice meted out to his father, who was a child at the time of this case. I knew Chakyar during his last days. In fact, as a member of the Yogashemasabha, we went to Chakyar and apologised for what we thought was cruelly unjust. And in a way we Namboodiris were responsible for it. We were surprised by his very composed reaction. He told us that it did not matter for people then thought it was a right decision. Moreover, had this not happened he would have ended up as a priest in some temple and not what he was now. We know that Chakyar, a brilliant administrator, retired as registrar of Kerala University. We were also able to fulfil his last wish, which was to die a Namboodiri,” says Panikkath Appu Namboodiri, Retd. Deputy Chief Engineer (Instrumentation) FACT (CD) and the inspiration behind Anyonyam Naalukettu that is actively involved in the preservation and propagation of Namboodiri customs and rituals.
In all the known cases of smartha vicharam , the victims were grown men and women. Cheriya Krishnan Namboodiri was the only ‘minor’ implicated. Strangely, nobody then thought of using a different yardstick to judge the boy, doling out the same punishment meted out to the others.
“ Smartha vicharam was actually Smrithi Vicharam, based on Smrithi, mainly Manu Smrithi, which was a code of conduct specifically for the upper class society of yore. It was something like the Shariat or the family court that exists today. Of course, the family court involved a whole society, while the others were specific to certain communities. The intention was good. It was to keep the society clean and just. But the truth is that it was misused. The last inquisition happened during the reign of Rama Varma XVI or Madrassil Theepetta Thampuran (the king who died in Madras) who ruled from 1914-1932. For the major part of his rule he was bed-ridden and the kingdom was ruled by his wife, children and officials. This must have impacted the verdict in the last smartha vicharam .
However, he will go down in history for this unjust act. Ironically, he was also responsible for ending this,” informs Rameshan Thampuran, member of the erstwhile Cochin Royal Family and one who has systematically recorded the origin, growth and evolution of the family.
Close to the main Nedumparambil Illam building stands a run-down two-storied structure. The door and windows are shut. It certainly has not been in use for years.
Perhaps it was in this building that Cheriya Krishnan Namboodiri died by hanging. No one wants to talk about this; no one wants to glean history from these sad facts. But this ancient building that may go the way some of the palaces in Tripunithura have, certainly hides a lot of history from us.
