Vaipur


Vaipur is a village located in the banks of Manimala river, in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. There are many myths about the origin of name 'Vaipur'.One of the famous myth says that it has come from the word Vayoopuram, which means Place of Vayu. Second myth says that the name has come from 'Vavarude Ooru' and it is related to Sabarimala story.
Vaipur port has an ancient trading history, it had links to Purakkad / Alappuzha port and was connected to Manimala, Niranam, Kallooppara, Mallappally, Kaviyoor, Tiruvalla, Nedumkunnam and nearby places. Traders from nearby places used to come to Vaipur market to sell and buy their wares. Vaipur chanda used to function on Mondays and Thursdays every week. Vaipur was part of Alappuzha district until the creation of Pathanamthitta District and Mallappally Taluk.

Religious Centres

Temples

Vaipur is famous for the seven temples: Vaipur Mahadeva Temple, Kulangarakkavu Sree Bhuvaneswari Temple, Kottangal Sree Devi Temple,Kulathoor Major Devi Temple,Thricherpuram Sree Shankara Narayana Swami Temple, Sasthamkavu Ayyappa Temple, Keethrikka Sree Krishna Swami Temple.nearest temple 'anikkattilammakshethram' The four well-known Nair families are Kaimodathu, Mangalathu Tharavadu, Alancherril and Kolathu.
The kaimodathu tharavadu members were the powerful kshatriya nair "Kaimal". All over in Kerala the Kaimal family members are less. The main branches of Kaimodathu tharavadu are Edavassary, Kulathunkal and Thumpooru. The Alancherril Nairs migrated from Madapally near Changanacherry and their family deity is in Cheruvally Temple. The Kolathu Nairs migrated from the ancient Kolathu Nadu.
Vaipur is famous for the Temple Festivals: Vaipur Mahadeva Temple Utsavam, Kulangarakkavu Kumbha Pooram, Kottangal Padayani, Kulathur Meena Pooram, Thricherpurathu Karkidaka Vavu Pooja, and the Mandala Poojas during the Sabarimala season. The Vaipur road has been declared as Sabarimala patha.

Masjids & Muslims

Vaipur has two famous Masjids: Vaipur Pazhayapallim Jama-Ath and Puthanpally Jama-Ath. Vaipur Muslim Pazhayapalli was the first Masjid for 18 places includes Erumely, Kanjirappally and Vaipur etc.
Muslims in Vaipur are either Rawthers or Labbas. The word Rawther is said to have come from the word Mauther, which means people in charge of elephants' and horses' divisions of the king's army. The myth says that, Rawthers originally belonged to Pandya Desam near Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Few of the Rawther families are then migrated to different places of Kerala; including Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Kollam and Eduki districts and Malabar.
Labba families at Vaipur claimed to be the 14th or 15th line of descendants of Vavarswami, friend of Sabarimala Ayyappan. The descendants of Vavar Swamy are believed to be Vaidyas practicing the Unani system of medicine.
from vaipur is holding the main priest position in Sabarimala Vavaru Temple; he is having about 40 years of parikarmi experience in Sabarimala vavar temple.
"Vaipur Chandanakkudam" is a local festival celebrating on every Makaram 15th of Malayalam Calendar, this festival as part of the Perumpara UROOS and it is continuing for maintaining Hindu Muslim brotherhood.

Churches & Christian settlements

Vaipur had Christian/Nazrani settlements dating back to the 13th century. St. Mary's Church, Vaipur was established in AD 1212, according to the records of Changanacherry Archdiocese. The only Syrian Catholic churches that were contemporaneous with Vaipur St.Mary's Church, were Champakulam St.Mary's, Athirampuzha, St.Mary's,Changanaseri St. Mary's, Kudamaloor St. Mary's. The Nazranis of Vaipur belonged to Niranam Church. The Nazranis of Manimala, Vaipur and Kallooppara, had to travel to Niranam using the waterways of River Manimala. Later, the Kallooppara Church was established and Vaipur Christians used to be members of that Church until Vaipur pazhaya palli was established.
Vaipur is listed among the 180 parishes that had representatives at the Synod of Diamper in 1599, that was held by the Portuguese Archbishop Menezes of Goa to unite the Indian Syrian Christians/ Nazranis/ Saint Thomas Christians to the Latin Catholic Church of Rome and its practices. This later led to division of the Indian Christian church into mainly the Jacobite Orthodox Church and the Syrian Catholic Churches after the Koonan Kurisu Sathyam of 1653. After this period of dissension and division within the Christian community, the Christian communities of various denominations, appear to have migrated from Vaipur, to other places. The Catholics mostly migrated to Nedumkunnam and nearby places. Christians from Vaipur area settled to different locations of Malabar area.
In the meantime more parishes were settled to nearby places namely Kulathur, Chunkappara etc.
The Edoor Tharakans belonging to the Syrian Christian/Nazrani Community, were powerful traders and landowners in the area. They are reported to have originated from Kalikavu Illam, whose members migrated to Vaipur from either Kuravilangad or Nilackal. The Edoor tharavad, had 9 branches: 1) Edoor Karuthaparackal Kallooprayat Mecherimannil Cheranackal Edoor Marungottil Plakizh Kozhimannil Puthuparampil Peedika. Other major sub branches of these divisions are Kuppumadathil, Akkattu, Edoor Karuthaparackal family migrated to Nedumkunnam and formed the Thathakatt and Nechikatt families in Nedumkunnam. The Karathaparackal Nechikatt family history, records the family roots 250 years back to Thathakatt-Nechikatt families, settled in Nedumkunnam.
Nedumkunnam temple and church had connections to the Vaipur Christian and Hindu communities.