MALAPPURAM: Perumbadappu Valiyakinar, the only remnant of the Kingdom of Cochin (originally known as Perumbadappu Swarupam), is now being protected by the archaeological department after a four-year-and-three-month-long effort. The eighth century Valiyakinar near Vanneri in Malapuram was identified near the area where once the principal manor of the Perumbadappu Swarupam was situated. A Swarupam is a ruling house that controlled the regional territories.
In 2015, the Kerala government declared the well a protected monument, following the local residents’ protest over the moves to fill the well with debris.“The residents used to take water from this well. However, an owner of a land near the well, tried filling it with construction waste. So, we formed a Valiyakinar Samrakshana Samithi, a committee to protect the well, and raised voices against the act. Our aim was to protect the grand old well,”, said Mohammed V, who was a member of the Valiya Kinar Samrakshana Samithi.
The archaeological department initiated the process to protect the well in March 2018. “It is a unique well with a diameter of 8.5metres. We brought experienced workers from Tamil Nadu to carry out excavation and minimized the use of JCBs and cranes,” said K Krishnaraj, who headed the project to protect Valiyakinar and the officer in charge of Pazhassiraja Archaeological Museum, Kozhikode.
It is believed that the members of the Perumbadappu Swarupam shifted to Thiruvanchikulam near Kodungallur after they faced attacks from the invasive forces of the Zamorin of Calicut by the end of the 13th century.
When they later shifted to Cochin, Perumbadappu Swarupam became the Kingdom of Cochin.“During the excavation of the well, the archaeological department could not find any antiques which were part of the Swarupam. However, protecting a monument successfully which would otherwise have been obliterated from history is a big achievement,” Krishnaraj said.