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In the beginning of the 14th Century A.D., after the demise of the King Mayura Varma who ruled the Pandya Kingdom, utter chaos prevailed in the land. The peace loving Tamil Brahmins from there migrated to Palakkad via Pollachi, to Thiruvananthapuram via Nagercoil, to Kollam via Aryankavu. From there they reached various parts of Kerala.
For self-protection and to continue with their rituals, customs and practices, they brought up Agraharams in their settlements. It is learnt that it was during the early years of the 18th Century that these Tamil Brahmins of these Agraharams thought of a meeting place for the dwellers in these Agraharams and thus sprouted the idea of establishing Samooha Madoms. In most parts of Kerala, thus Samooha Madoms were established very near to the temples of reigning deity of the town or village.
With the help of the then Rulers, about 250 Samooha Madoms were established. These institutions were named as Samooha Madom,Gramajana Samooham, Grama Samooham etc. Huge areas of paddy fields and lands were set apart by donors as endowments for the smooth conduct of rituals and functions like Sasthapreethy, Bhagavathy Seva, Navarathri, Ratholsava, Upakarma etc. Over and above these functions and festivals, the community members took leading role in conducting the functions and festivals of the temples of the reigning deity of the locality.
With the help of the then Rulers, about 250 Samooha Madoms were established. These institutions were named as Samooha Madom,Gramajana Samooham, Grama Samooham etc. Huge areas of paddy fields and lands were set apart by donors as endowments for the smooth conduct of rituals and functions like Sasthapreethy, Bhagavathy Seva, Navarathri, Ratholsava, Upakarma etc. Over and above these functions and festivals, the community members took leading role in conducting the functions and festivals of the temples of the reigning deity of the locality.
Sri. V.P. Madhava Rao, the then Diwan of the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom took a lead role in forming an organization to bring all these Samooha Madoms under one umbrella. This move was led by Sri. Anantharama Iyer, the Pavusari Commissioner of that time. In 1946, “The Travancore Brahmana Sabha” came into existence with Justice. K. Sankara Subbayyar as President, Sree. K. S. Nataraja Sarma and Sri. K. Sivaramakrishna Sastrigal as Secretaries and Sri. S. Sankara Subbayyar as Treasurer, Sri. Haripad Krishna Iyer, Perumbavur Sri. G. Narayana Iyer and Sri. T.V. Ramasubbayyar (Dinamalar) as patrons. The activities of the Travancore Brahmana Sabha spread from Kanyakumari to North Paravur which were the frontiers of this kingdom. The Sabha brought out a publication named as “Dharma Prakasika” during this time and this publication used to reach most of the Samooha Madoms in the area. At the General Meeting held in 1949 under the Chairmanship of ‘Diwan Bahadur’ ‘Sir’ Sri. K.S. Ramaswamy, it was decided to widen the activities of the Sabha to entire South India and the name of the Sabha was changed to “Dakshina Bharatha Brahmana Sabha”. But then the activities mellowed down.
On 8th and 9th of May 1965, a Maha Sammelan of the entire Samooha Madoms was organized at Kalady in the presence of Jagadguru Sankaracharyas of Sringeri, Dwaraka and Puri. Stalwarts including Sri. Mavelikara S. Kulathu Iyer, Thiruvananthapuram Sri. Chidamabara Krishna Iyer, Perumbavur Sri. N.S. Mony, Dr. Hari, Sri. N. Subrahmanya Iyer, Sri. N.R. Sreenivasan Iyer, Sri. P. Veeraraghavan, Sri. T.S. Krishnamoorthy, Sri. C.M. Devan, Sri. K.S. Paripoornan and many other prominent members from the Tamil Brahmin community had attended that Sammelan. The need for forming a State-wide organisation also was seriously discussed at the sidelines of the Sammelan. Initially, there were apprehensions regarding the formation of another organization, when there already existed Samooha Madoms, Gramajana Samoohams etc. in various places across the State. But the active involvement of various leaders could crack the nut and it was decided to form an Organisation for Tamil Brahmins at the State level.
On 17th August 1970, the “All Kerala Brahmins’ Association” got registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies’ Registration Act XII of 1955 with Registration ‘S. No. 60 of 1970′. The leading roles were played by Sri. S.S. Warren, Sri. Sivaraman, Sri. Vechoor S.P. Iyer etc. At the Annual General Meeting of the All Kerala Brahmins’ Association held in 1972, delegates from various Districts of the State participated. The first mouthpiece of the Association ‘Vipra Sandesh’ started its publication in 1975.
In 1980, for the first time, the Annual General Meeting of the All Kerala Brahmins’ Association was conducted at Alappuzha, outside Thiruvananthapuram. At the meeting Sri. N. Narayana Swamy, Advocate was elected as the State President. In 1981, at the Annual General Meeting of the Association held at Kottayam, Sri. V. Raghavan (Kottayam) was elected as President and Sri. T.N. Gopalakrishnan (Thiruvananthapuram) as General Secretary got elected. The vibrant activities of the team could encroach into other districts of the State and could form Unit level and District level committees in the northern districts as well.
In the meantime, the “Brahmana Sabha, Palakkad” had started functioning in the Palakkad District since 1978. On 15th January 1983, at the General Meeting held at Kottayam, when the Brahmana Sabha Palakkad and the All Kerala Brahmins’ Association decided to work together, the Kerala Brahmana Sabha came into existence. At the General Meeting held at Ernakulam in April 1983, the first Executive Committee of the Kerala Brahmana Sabha was elected with Sri. N.N. Ramachandran as President and Capt. V.S. Moni Iyer as General Secretary.
