Illam (), also referred to as Mana, is the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

word for the house of a

Namboodiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal e ...

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

. In the traditional lineage system used for the classification and identification of homes based on the

castes Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

, an Illam served as the ''

tharavad Tharavad () (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic families in Kerala, which usually served as the common house for the joint family system practiced in the state. The German linguist Hermann Gund ...

'' (ancestral house) of Namboodiri Brahmin families. The Namboodiris, who constituted the highest ranking caste of Kerala, also refer to their lineages as the ''Brahmaalayam''. The family homes are built according to the canons of ''

Vaasthusaasthra ''Vastu shastra'' ( hi, वास्तु शास्त्र, ' – literally "science of architecture") is a traditional Indian system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, groun ...

m'', meaning "architecture" in the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

language.

Structural layout

The traditional layout of a Namboodiri Illam is in the form of an open courtyard which is located in the middle, known as the ''Nadumittam'' ('nadu' meaning middle and 'mittam' meaning earth/ground). These buildings or houses are designed in different patterns such as ''Nalukettu'' (a courtyard surrounded by rooms on four sides), ''Ettukettu'' (a ''nalukettu'' surrounded by another ''nalukettu''), and ''Pathinarukettu'' (four layers of buildings constructed around a central courtyard).

Popular examples

Some well-known Illams in Kerala include Suryakaladi Mana (

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south ...

Varikkasseri Mana Varikkasseri Mana (Malayalam: വരിക്കാശേരി മന), alternatively known as Varikkumanchery Mana, is one of the oldest traditional aristocratic Namboothiri family houses (illam) in Kerala. Built in Kerala architectural style ...

(

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

), Pootheri Illam (

Feroke Feroke (), is a Municipality and a part of Kozhikode metropolitan area under Kozhikode Development Authority (K.D.A) in the Kozhikode district of the Indian state of Kerala. Feroke municipality shares the border with Kozhikode corporation, Ra ...

), Eettisseri Mana (

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

) and Poomulli Mana (

). Most of these ancestral homes produced aristocratic families who have since married with elite

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histor ...

communities to form the upper-caste divisions.

References

{{Reflisthttps://www.namboothiri.com/articles/illam.htm https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/poonthanam-illam-kizhattoor-perinthalmanna/393 Culture of Kerala Architecture in India