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About Keralaiyers.com

Iyers are Tamil speaking Brahmins originating from South India. Iyers were initially confined to the state of Tamil Nadu. A few centuries back, some of them migrated and settled down in various parts of Kerala. They integrated themselves into their new homeland and built up an identity of their own. The people of Tamil Nadu identified them as Palakkad Brahmins or Palakkad Iyers while the people of Kerala referred to them as Pattars. The term Kerala Iyers is also popular because of their presence all over Kerala.

KeralaIyers.com is a mission- an ongoing attempt to delve into the history, trace the roots, portray the life of modern day Kerala Iyers, and chronicle the achievements of this community. It also intends to provide information on aspects such as local religious festivals, promote discussion forums & facilitate exchange of information.

In the modern era of a "global village", Kerala Iyers have spread throughout the world. They believe in religion and co-operate among themselves in all aspects of life. Therefore they build and maintain Samooham Madams wherever they live.

KeralaIyers.com intends to erect a Net Samooham so that their lives would be enriched wherever they are in the world.

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Achievements of Kerala Iyers

Great Scientists A community which took up to modern English education only about 40-50 years back has contributed very significantly to the scientific development in India. Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is the name that comes uppermost to the mind. He has been recognized as the Father of Green Revolution in India. Dr.M.S.Swaminathan took his Ph.D from the School of Agriculture in Cambridge in 1952. He spent the next two decades in research on various crops and in basic and applied genetics at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He developed high yielding strains of wheat and rice. Dr.Swaminathan is recepient of over forty awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the World Food Prize in 1987, the S S Bhatnagar Award, the Birbal Sahni Medal and the Mendel Memorial Award. In 1...
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History

The term 'Iyer' is derived from 'Iyya' which means 'Sir' in Tamil and which might have beemight have been derived from 'Arya' of Sanskrit, which means a 'gentleman'. In the earliest known work dealing with grammar in Tamil - tholkappiyam (meaning old epic), the meaning of 'iyya' is given as 'a learned individual'. Iyers were initially confined to Tamil Nadu. Though the majority of them chose to stay in Tamil Nadu itself, some of them migrated to neighboring states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Over the years these migrants built up their own individual culture and established an identity of their own. In Kerala, they are commonly referred to as Pattars where as Iyers of Tamil ...
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Subsects

Depending on the path they chose to migrate the Kerala Iyers are divided into Palakkad Brahmins and Pandikkars. The Palakkad Brahmins migrated via the Palakkad pass and the Pandikkars (meaning those belonging to Pandya Nadu) migrated via Shenkottai (Aruvamozhy pass). The other wave of migration was from Tirunelveli and they maintained a separate identity. It is strange to note that though both these districts belonged to Pandya Nadu, the people who migrated from Tirunelveli consider those who migrated from Madurai as Pandikkars. They say that this sect is not through out Travancore state but in pockets around Cochin. Till recently the identity of these groups were maintained. Cross marriages between these groups were uncommon. The Samoohams...
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