Poonjar HighLightz

The Poonjar dynasty originated from the Pandyan Kings of the Sangam Age. The founder of the dynasty, Manavikrama Kulashekhara Perumal, was a Pandyan king whose mother was a Chera princess. In 1152 AD, he shifted from Madurai due to the incessant civil wars in Tamil Country. The Raja carried one of the three idols of Meenakshi, their "Kula Devatha", which was used in the annual car festival at the famed Madurai Meenakshi Temple. It was established as a "pratishta" in the Meenakshi temple where it currently sits, on the banks of the Meenachil River. History documents that Manavikraman Raja procured the land from the Thekkancoor Rajas, which is now part of Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts of Kerala and added it to his domain in Tamil country. He established political connections in present day Kerala by giving his daughter in marriage to the then Edapally Raja. Kochi was not yet an established kingdom. During the height of its glory in the 17th and 18th century AD, the Poonjar dynasty had suzerainity over the present day Idukki and Kottayam districts, parts of Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta districts in Kerala. They also held sway over the districts of Ramnad and parts of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The Palani hills were also part of the Poonjar kingdom. In July 1877, among other leases, Kerala Varma Raja, then chief of the royal house leased 128,000 acres (520 km2) for 99 years, to a British planter named Thomas Munro. This is the famous Kannan Devan Hill Produce Company (KDHP) lease. The area under the current Mullaperiyar Dam was part of their jurisdiction. Their neighbour to the south, Travancore, whose territorial boundary was Kottarakara, did not dispute the actual control until 1889. Travancore finally established their suzerainty by royal proclamation on September 24, 1899, backed by the British.[1] The Kannan Devan lease, not ownership, was passed on to Finlays in the 1930s, and subsequently taken over by TATA Tea Ltd in the 1950s. The lease has since expired and the land ownership is in dispute. [2] The main revenue for the Poonjar Kingdom was hill and forest produce, and Erattupetta was the commercial center.