Palakkad Iyers also known as Kerala Iyers are Brahmin who have migrated to Palakkad from Tanjore district in the State of
Tamil Nadua few centuries ago. They are known as Palakkad Iyersbecause most of them settled down in the Palakkaddistrict of Keralawhich is close to Tamil Nadu. From Palghat they migrated to other parts of North Kerala which were part of the erstwhile Madras presidency like Kozhikode. Iyers were usually employed as cooks and temple assistants, since they were not considered qualified to conduct Pooja in Kerala (which follows Tantra-Vidhi of NamboothiriBrahmins).
Many families have migrated to other bigger cities in India like Bombay, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, etc. in search of jobs. There are many Palakkad Iyers even at places outside India like the United States, UK, Gulf, etc. And today the majority of palakkad iyers reside outside Kerala something which can be attributed to the fact that there is a lack of skilled jobs available in kerala.
The mother tongue of all Palakkad Iyers is Tamil but the
dialectthat an Iyerfrom Palakkadspeaks is influenced by Malayalam vocabulary to some extent. Their Tamil slang is highly influenced by Sanskritalso.
But, due to their hard work and dedication, many Palakkad
Iyershave become scholars in many languages including Malayalam(the official language of Kerala, Tamil (Their mother tongue), Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Kannadaand Telugu.
Iyers were initially confined to
Tamil Nadu. The majority of them chose to stay in Tamil Nadu. However, some of them gradually started migrating to the neighbouring states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, a few centuries after the decline of all the great Hindu empires of Tamil Nadu (such as Cholaand Pandyadynasties). The waves of Tamil Brahmin migration into Kerala continued till the first half of 20th century.
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 whereas people of Tamil Nadu call them Kerala Brahmins. The word 'Pattar' used for this and other Tamil Brahmin communities of Kerala is derived from the word 'Bhattar', a Sanskrit word indicating Brahmins. This was one of the earlier surnames used by the Tamil Brahmins.
* [http://www.keralaiyers.com Kerala Iyers Offiial Website]
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