Editing Pazhassi Raja (section)

==Kingdom==
Pazhassi Raja was born as a [[Kshatriya Varma]] in the  Royal Padinjare Kovilakam (Western Branch) of Purannattukara Swarupam, the royal lineage of Kottayam. This branch was located at Pazhassi which lay south west of [[Mattannur]]. Kerala Varma got the name Pazhassi Raja as he was a native of Pazhassi. The early British [[East India Company]] documents wrote ''Pazhassi Raja'' as ''Pychy Rajah'', while the name ''Cotiote Raja'' comes from the anglicizing of ''Kottayam'' to ''Cotiote''. Kottayam covers what is today the [[Thalassery]] taluk of the [[Kannur District]] and [[Wayanad district]], along with the [[Gudalur, Nilgiris|Gudalur]] taluk(Mudhumalai, Nellakotta, Srimadurai,Cherambadi, and Masinagudi)  of [[Nilgiris district]].{{sfnp|Elayavoor|2007|p=24}}

As a royal clan, Purannattukara Swarupam had three branches: a western branch (Padinjare Kovilakam) at Pazhassi, near Mattannur, an eastern branch (Kizhakke Kovilakam) at Manatana, near Peravoor, and a southern branch (Tekke Kovilakam) at Kottayampoil, near Koothuparamba.<ref name="ReferenceA">Wayanad – Its People and Traditions by C. Gopalan Nair</ref>