Padamadan

A Surname

Padamadan

1. a surname of Indian origin from a ruling-class (minor-royal) lineage found in the Dutch influenced territories/regions of Vipin in Kerala, India. Pronunciation: adds a stress at the consonants and "ma" with a longer "a" - sound after m.

Etymology:(this part is partially verifiable)

The Padamadans ruled over the "plains" or "padam" as the plains used to be called in the local language of Malayalam (and also in root words of Sanskrit language). The "madan" or "maadan" is indicative of a superlative status: one who is in charge of, or rules over, or in divine command of.

Another theory: Pada means war and Madan was the warlord of Dravidians.So they fought like a warlord in battles.

Padamadans do not come in the royal families accredited during the formation of Republic of India and State of Kerala in 1956.

Research has not been done of the links to families that migrated back to Israel in the 1940s.

Therefore Padamadans had either largely declined from any significant positions of power by 1900s, or they were one of the minor royal houses in the periphery states adjacent to the major royal houses who ruled the significant territories of Malabar, Cochin, Travancore etc.

(rest of this article is based on informal research that are difficult to verify scientifically)

These plains of mid-Kerala would have been quite productive agriculturally. The mountains of Kerala in antiquity were dense impregnable forests. Another related etymology of the surname is the clan or family that ruled with force "in command of the armies" or "in command of the people" or "in command of the armies of the plains" which are translations of the surname . Origins show an atiquity of at least a 1000 years or so based on family stories passed down from generations. Family stories include mentions of the inquisition from west where some family members hid in the mountains and even changed names. They also speak of a Chinese emissary sent by the Emperor of China who stayed in Kerala for several months and showed the Padamadans the benefits of installing Chinese nets and techniques for maintaining (manually dredging) ports in the difficult coastline of this area.