The Roots of Me

in 52 ad., st. thomas the apostle landed at muziris, near cochin on the malabar coast. he is the only apostle to have travelled outside the roman empire to preach the gospel. he also crossed the largest area, having covered persia and india. during his stay, he was successful in converting a large number of people into becoming 'nasraani' (followers of jesus of nazareth). like the other disciples, st. thomas appointed elders (edavaka mooppen - parish elder; malankara mooppen - church elder) at the places he preached.

during his stay at maalyankara in kodungalloor, st. thomas converted 32 brahmin families into nasraani's. among the 32 families was the pakalomattam family who resided in the paalayoor namboothiri illam. in the 4th century, the pakalomattam family established a church at kuruvilangaadu. since the pakalommatam family resided near the church and managed the activities of the church, the family also came to be known as palliveetukkar. many of the later-day metropolitans came from the pakalomattam family.

in the 7th century, many members of the pakalommatam family travelled south. they arrived at kudashannadu near panthalam and built the valiyaveetil house. at the turn of the 12th century, the head of the kudashannadu valiyaveetil house was the welathy landlord, ousep tharakan. he bought land at thumbaman to build a church but his untimely demise stalled the construction. his son, thomman tharakan seeked the help of the panthalam king and built the church at thumbaman. he also built the pallivaathilkkal house near the church. thomman tharakan later became a priest.

first generation of the aanjilimootil family (1648):
the eminent priest, thoma kathanar is considered to be of the 13th generation of the pallivaathilkkal family. he was blessed with three sons and a daughter. the three sons were pallivaathilkkal kochitti, pallivaathilkkal thoma and pallivaathilkkal joseph. while the younger sons stayed with their father at pallivaathilkkal house, the elder son, kochitti travelled across the achenkovil river, arrived at aanjilimootil in pallippad and stayed there. he formed the aanjilimootil family in 1648. his sons were:
aanjilimootil mathen tharakan
koipallil kiriyan tharakan
mattathileth itti tharakan

second generation of the aanjilimootil family:
koipallil kiriyan tharakan had two sons:
purackal kiriyan chacko
koipallil kiriyan kiriyan

third generation of the aanjilimootil family:
purackal kiriyan chacko had three sons:
purackal chacko kiriyan
chakaallil chacko philippose
chirayude vadakethil chacko koruthu

fourth generation of the aanjilimootil family:
purackal chacko kiriyan had five sons:
purackal chacko
kottapurathu philippose
vaazhapallil varghese
pandarathil kiriyan
kadakkal koshy

fifth generation of the aanjilimootil family:
pandarathil kiriyan had two sons:
pandarathil kurien kurien
pandarathil kurien chacko

sixth generation of the aanjilimootil family:
pandarathil kurien kurien had two sons:
pandarathil kurien kurien
pandarathil kurien chacko

seventh generation of the aanjilimootil family:
pandarathil kurien chacko married ammini of the kallathara family from karuvatta and had two sons:
pandarathil chacko kurien
jacob george

eighth generation of the aanjilimootil family:
pandarathil chacko kurien married jessy, daughter of p.c. george and annamma george from the pandialackal family from karthikapally and had two sons:
jerin jacob kurien - which happens to be me!!
justin george kurien


derivation of the name 'kurien':
kurien (also spelt kurian) is a common name amongst Christians in kerala. it is a derivative of 'kuriakose', which is derived from the Greek personal name 'kyriakos' meaning ‘of the Lord’ (equivalent to the western given name 'dominic'). In medieval times, it is believed to be a name given to a male child born on a Sunday.

aanjilimootil family and the marthoma church:
the metropolitan of the malankara church between 1825 to 1855 was most rev. cheppad philippose mar dionysius (marthoma XII), who hailed from the aanjilimootil family. his tenure as the metropolitan was one of turmoil. the incessant pressure from the anglican missionaries forced marthoma XII to severe relations with the missionaries. this led to the split of the malankara church into two:
1. some members joined with the anglican missionaries and formed the c.m.s. church.
2. the remaining members were divided into two factions:
a. bava kakshi - also knows as jacobite church
b. metran kakshi - which later became the mar thoma church.
so, it indirectly means - a member of the aanjilimootil family was indirectly the reason for the birth of the mar thoma church, of which i am today, a member.

the 'pandarathil' house:
'pandarathil' is a surname of malayalam-speaking namboothiri brahmins of south-west kerala, specifically, kerala. it was originally a honorific title conferred on a few aristocratic families by the travancore maharajah in recognition of their special services as vassals of the ruling monarch. those who bore this title are on the same social status as the namboothiris, bhattathiris etc. though some use it to claim superiority. all of them were large land-owners and rulers of the nearby lands (naaduvaazhikkal).
'pandarathil' is a derivative of the word 'bhandaaram' meaning treasury or warehouse. the bhandarams, other than storing the essentials for the king, also conducted the kalari ashrams and provided the best kshatriya warriors to the travancore maharajah.
history also records that the rani of venad, aswathi thriunal umayamma (known as umayamma rani of the kulashekara dynasty), the regent of venad (travancore) from 1677 to 1684, adopted two boys from the pandarathil family - raman koyil pandarathil and kochu raman unni pandarathil, as successors for the throne of travancore.

so, my roots are the paalayoor namboothiri family of kodungallor which branched off to the aanjilimootil family founded 360 years ago, of which i am the eighth generation heir.....