Shrouding the eight-acre premises of the Kavalappara Palace, which once stood for royalty and grandeur, is a near-impregnable thicket of unruly greenery infested by breeds of reptiles.
What is more disheartening is the state of neglect surrounding the 10,000 rare records of the ancient Mooppil Nair family, the legendary landlords who owned the palace and ruled swathes of land that came under Valluvanad and erstwhile Cochin State. The Kavalappara Swaroopam , as the records are known, are now feasted by moths. Historians say the family ruled over 31.079 sq.km area in and around the present Shornur, which was given to them by the famous king Cheraman Perumal, who controlled the Malabar region.
The palace’s descent to the present state began in the sixties when the litigations involving the descendents of the Mooppil Nair family began, leading to the area being placed under the receiver rule. Though the main buildings have been auctioned in the eighties and the contractors have removed them completely, some structures like an Oottupura and Maalika Chuvadu still remain, evoke a unique old world charm despite the ruin.
“The Cheraman Perumal gave the land to the Kavalpara Mooppil Nair family, who administered the area with his managers or Karyasthans. But shortly after the death of the head of the family, Karakkat Kumaran Raman Kochunni Mooppil Nair in 1964, the disputes among the successors of the family began. Court cases since 1967 led to the Kavalappara Estate in Shoranur and some other properties of the palace being placed under the receiver administration,’’ recalls O.P. Balakrishnan, who wrote a book on the legacy of the family that once threatened even the monpoly of Zamorins in Malabar.
