Devaswom boards in Kerala

Devaswom (Sanskrit: Property of God) is a socio-religious trust with government or society/community nominated members as trustees to manage Hindu temples and its assets and ensure smooth functioning of temple as per traditional rituals and customs. This system is normally found in Kerala, where almost all temples are either managed by Kerala Government controlled Devaswoms as a cluster for temples which fall under its direct administration or formed by private bodies/families.

Most of the important temples of Kerala are managed by Devaswoms. Devaswom means properties of god (Deva means God and Swom mean ownership in Sanskrit). Thus it is a social system, by which all properties of each temple are declared as personal property of presiding deity of each temple and managed through a body of trustees who bear allegiance to the presiding deity.

The four devaswoms (Guruvayur, Travancore, Malabar and Cochin) together manage nearly 3000 temples in Kerala.

The Government of Kerala spends cores of rupees for the smooth functioning of the Devasom Boards.