THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kazhakoottam houses the biggest IT Park in the country. The place also holds an importance in the culture and history of Travancore. One story says the name Kazhakoottam came from Kazhakakoottam, meaning a place where people of high ranks from the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom held their meetings.
“Another story is like this: There was a Goddess named Kazhaki mentioned in the Sangam literature. People who lived in Kazhakoottam worshipped Kazhaki, and, hence, the place came to be known as Kazhakoottam,”explains historian Neduvattam Gopalakrishnan.
A ritual called Kalamezhuthu Pattu “for the Goddess is performed at the Mahadeva Temple even now. Also, the word ‘kazhakam’ denotes an education centre.”He says there was an influence of Buddhism and Jainism in Kazhakoottam. “The examples are the Madavoorpara cave temple, built between the 7th and 8th centuries. There was an ancient Sastha temple that followed customs similar to Buddhism. This is being shifted to the Mahadeva Temple as part of road widening,” he said.
There is another story. Kazhakoottathu Pillai, one of the eight feudal landlords called Ettu Veettil Pillamar, was a famous figure. As part of the rivalry between the king and Pillais, Marthanda Varma killed Kazhakoottathu Pillai. Also, the king took over his palace and constructed a pond.
Historian M G Sasi Bhushan says: “The saddest part is that, after murdering Kazhakoottathu Pillai, the king declared Pillai’s family members as slaves and sold them to other religions. Many members of the Kazhakoottam family died by suicide out of humiliation,” says “Kazhakoottathu Pillai and his descendants figure prominently in C V Raman Pillai’s historical novel ‘Dharmaraja’.”