Tharavad

{{Short description|Common house for the joint family system practised in Kerala, India}}

{{Distinguish|Theravada}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Use Indian English|date=August 2019}}

File:Mekkat 010.jpg

File:Taravad.gif's article published in 1918. Capital and small letters represent females and males respectively. Supposing that the females A, B and C were dead and the oldest male member karnavar being d, if the male members t, k and others demanded partition, the property would be divided into three parts.]]

Tharavad, also spelled as Tharavadu ({{audio|Tharavad.ogg|pronunciation}}) (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic Nair families{{cite news| last=manoramanews|first=manoramaonline| title= Christian Tharavadu| url=https://www.onmanorama.com/travel/kerala/2021/10/25/touring-christian-tharavadu-edakkalathur-chengalai.html}}{{cite news| last=The new indian express|first=Indian Express|title= A house reminisces 400 years of its history|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2012/Nov/12/a-house-reminisces-400-years-of-its-history-424582.html}} in Kerala, which usually served as the common residence for the matrilineal joint family under the Marumakkathayam system practiced in the state.{{cite news|last=Kakkat|first=Thulasi|title=Kerala's Nalukettus|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/keralas-nalukettus/article3784842.ece|access-date=13 December 2017|work=The Hindu|date=18 August 2012}}{{cite news|last=Kunhikrishnan|first=K.|title=Fallen tharavads|url=http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2003/12/07/stories/2003120700380600.htm|access-date=13 December 2017|work=The Hindu|date=12 April 2003}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} German linguist Hermann Gundert, in his Malayalam—English dictionary published in 1872, defines a Tharavadu as, "An ancestral residence of land-owners and kings", and also as, "A house, chiefly of noblemen".{{cite book|author=Hermann Gundert|title=A Malayalam and English Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_8661431_000|access-date=15 February 2017|year=1872|publisher=C. Stolz|page=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_8661431_000/page/n453 434]}} It was classically the residence of Jenmimar, but contemporary usage of the word is now more generic to all social classes and religions in Kerala.{{cite web |last1=Pannikar |first1=K.M. |year=1960 |title=A History of Kerala 1498 - 1801 |url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.56769/2015.56769.History-Of-Kerala-1498-1801_djvu.txt |publisher=Annamalai University Press}} By extension, the word refers not just to the family's house but also to the extended family that shares that house. Heads of tharavadus - usually the eldest living male - were known as Karnavars, and junior members as Anandravans.