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Home > Kerala Temples > Introduction to Kerala Temples > Travancore TravancoreAs in the rest of Kerala, the Hindu temples in Travancore State were mostly under the management of private bodies known as Ooraalaars or Kariakkars. In course of time the temples, particularly the major temples, came to possess immense wealth, mainly contributed by ardent devotees which included rulers, administrators and the public. The managers or Trustees of these temples enacted rules and laid down customs for the administration, basically favourable to them and not for the general interests of the temples and they were independent of the authority of the Rulers. This, to a great extent, led to mismanagement of temples. All these led the Rulers to assume the management of these Devaswoms by virtue of their inherent Melkoima right as the spiritual head of the state. At the same time, particularly in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the British took keen interest in the control of the administration of temples. In 987 ME (1182-12) Col.Munroe decided that the Sarkkar would take over the management of these temples along with their properties – movable and immovable. The thiratt of that year mentions that 348 major and 1123 minor Devaswoms also were similarly assumed, but there are no records to show their exact number. At the time of taking over the temples the income from Devaswom lands was 15.80lakhs paras of paddy and Rs 53,092 in cash. The income increased year after year. Initially separate accounts were maintained for temples taken over by the Government. After a short period it became difficult to separate Devaswom lands from Sarkkar lands. Thus virtually the temples lost their properties and income and they had to depend on the mercy of the Government for management. The Hindu Religious Endowment Regulation of 1079 ME (1904 A.D) empowered the Government to intervene in the affairs of private institutions and to assume their management as well, whenever deemed necessary. Thus in course of time, large number of private Devaswoms also were taken over by the Sarkkar. An important landmark was the Royal proclamation of Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma Raja on 12th April 1922 corresponding to the 30th Meenam 1097. This proclamation came into effect from 1st Chingam 1098 and it prescribed the formation of a Devaswom fund and a separate Department for the efficient management and control of the Devaswom falling within its purview. After attaining Independence and the introduction of constitutional changes Devaswom Department was separated from the effective control of the state. When the Travancore and Cochin states were integrated on 1st July 1949 the administrative control of the Devaswoms was vested with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB). In pursuance of the Articles of the Covenant, Ordinances of IV of 1949, IX of 1949 and I of 1950 were promulgated. This was followed by the Hindu Religious Institutions Act XV of 1950. This Act continues to be in force in part of the erstwhile Travancore State even after the formation of Kerala. The TDB has no jurisdiction over all the temples in the Travancore region. There are innumerable private temples in this region which have independent status and some of them are temples of great antiquity. << back
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