The spreading of the Gospel was the task entrusted by the Lord to His disciples before His ascension to Heaven. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the disciples dispersed themselves into all parts of the world with the mission to spread the word of the Lord for the salvation of mankind. It is history and well-known fact that in AD 52 St. Thomas, the Apostle of India, landed at Musseris (Mahadevar Town) which later came to be known as Kodungallur. What is less known is the fact that the history of Thengumpallil family starts soon thereafter.


The word of the Lord as flowed from the Apostle, as the seed in the sower's parable, fell on the most fertile minds and produced an yield of one hundred times. Christianity was taking its roots on Indian soil. Palayur is one among the seven main centres where St. Thomas Proclaimed the Christian Faith. There he bapticized many Brahmin Families like Sankarapuri, Kalli, Kalikavu, Pakalomattom. Kalikavu is the ancestor family of Plathottam from which Thengumpallil Kudumbam descends. Over a period of time, the number of Christian families grew leaps and bounds and they migrated to greener pastures. The beauty and promise of the virgin land beckoned many of the industrious and adventurous among them to the High Ranges and Malabar. Some members of the Kalikavu Family migrated to Nilakkal via. Kuruvilangadu. After many years some of them came to Bharananganam from where they got new family name Plathottam. One Mani Mani from Plathottam family moved to Pravithanam with his family. It was in AD 1770. The descendants of Mani Mani spread in multitudes into various branches and are known today as Plathottam Thazhe, Plathottam Karott, Mundathanath, Nhattukalayil, Puliynanikkal, etc. 

Another person from Plathottam family, Thomman, moved with his family to Vezhanganam and settled on the banks of a rivulet bordering a paddy field. The origin of the word Thengumpalli is traced to Thengumpalli Nairs who were then the inhabitants of this place. Later, the descendants of Thomman of Plathottam family were known as Thengumpallil family.

The families branched out of Plathottam family have taken deep roots in most of erstwhile Travancore, and many of them to-day find their identity with Jacobite, Mar Thoma and C.S.I. churches. Nevertheless, they all maintain a very cordial relation with the Roman Catholic branch of the great family.


Thengumpallil family, like many other famous families of our times, was basically agro-centric, and its diversification into modern professions is of recent origin. The versatility of the family is reflected in the growing number of professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and the like in the family. We have our members settled in almost all districts of Kerala, although a sizable number of them have found gainful employment in other parts of India and abroad.

The Lord has blessed the family abundantly, both worldly and spiritually. The large number of vocational calls of the Lord from the family is perhaps the greatest blessing, which will be testified by the priests and nuns among the members of the family. Hence the inescapable spirit of the family reunion is the Thanksgiving to the Lord.