Tharavad, also spelled as Tharavadu (pronunciation^ⓘ) (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of Nair aristocratic families in Kerala, which usually served as the common residence for the matrilineal joint family under the Marumakkathayam system practiced in the state,^[1][2] in which males inherited through the female line. Parallel familial compounds encompassing a patrilineally-defined family, were known as Illams or Manas for Nambudiri Brahmins. The German linguist Hermann Gundert, in his Malayalam—English dictionary published in 1872, defines a Tharavadu as, "An ancestral residence of land-owners and kings", and also as, "A house, chiefly of noblemen".^[3] By extension, the word refers not just to the family's house but to the extended family that shares that house. It was classically the residence of Jenmimar, but contemporary usage of the word is now more generic to all social classes and religions in Kerala.^[4] Heads of tharavadus - usually the eldest living male - were known as Karnavars, and junior members as Anandravans.

Architecture

Inseparable from the traditional concept of a tharavad is, historically, Kerala's distinctive Nālukettu architectural tradition. A classic Nalukettu tharavad would be built with four halls, each with a defined purpose, and collectively enclosing a Nadumuttam, or open-air courtyard. Wealthier and more prominent tharavads would construct mansions with multiple such atria, such as the eight-halled Ettukettu, with two nadumuttams, or Pathinarukettu, sixteen-halled with four nadumuttams, and the preserve of royal families and tharavads of similar rank. Rarely, twelve-halled Pathrandukettu were constructed. with three courtyards,^[5] and there is a record of a 32-halled Muppathirandukettu being erected, although it was lost to a fire soon after construction.^[6]