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.

Travancore

The Kingdom of Travancore (/ˈtrævəŋkɔər/; [t̪iɾuʋit̪aːmkuːr])(Malayalam:തിരുവിതാംകൂർ) was an Indian kingdom from 1729 to 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of modern-day central and southern Kerala, as well as Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The official flag of the state was red with a dextrally-coiled silver conch shell (Turbinella pyrum) at its center. In the early 19th century, the kingdom became a princely state of the British Empire, and the king was accorded a 21 gun-salute locally and a 19-gun salute outside the kingdom. The Travancore Government took many progressive steps on the socio-economic front and during the reign of Maharajah Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Travancore became the second most prosperous princely state in British India, with reputed achievements in education, political administration, public work and social reforms.

Name

When the region was once part of the Chera empire, it was known as Thiruvazhumkode (തിരുവാഴുംകോട്, tiruvāḻuṃkōṭŭ). It was contracted to Thiruvankode (തിരുവാങ്കോട്, tiruvāṅkōṭŭ), and anglicised by the English to Travancore.