St. Thomas Cathedral, Pala

In Palai, the important Church is the St Thomas Cathedral. This was constructed in the 16th century by four Syrian Christian families. These four Christian families of PALA were THARAYIL (tharayil mappila) KOOTTUMKAL (brother of Tharayil Mappila) ERAKONNI & VAYALAKOMBIL. They engaged mainly in agriculture and trade. It is believed that the old church ST. THOMAS CATHEDRAL was built by these families. THARAYIL MAPPILA seek the permission to build a church at PALA. But the local ruler meenachil kartha's (karthavu)asked him to bring three more families. He brought two families, ERAKONNI & VAYALAKOMBIL. And still he was in need of one. So he brought his own brother(THARAYIL FAMILY) to PALA and gave him family name KOOTTUMKAL , in order to construct the church. MEENACHIL KARTHAS gave land on the banks of "meenachil river" and the church was constructed. These four families stayed in and around the church and opposite to the church.