Manikandan

The Manikandans were the royal house of Thekkumkur, a kingdom in southern Kerala between the Meenachil and Pamba rivers, whose rulers all bore Manikandan as part of their regnal name. The state took shape in 1103, when Vempolinad split into Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur after the decline of the Chera kingdom.

Its first capitals were Vennimala and Manikandapuram, where Iravi Manikandan Varman built the Krishna temple in 1152. Early in the fifteenth century the court moved to Changanassery and later added a fortress-capital at Kottayam.

The line ended with Aditya Varma Manikandan: after he took sides against the expanding Travancore of Marthanda Varma, Ramayyan Dalawa's troops stormed Changanassery in 1749 and Thekkumkur was annexed to Travancore in 1753.