Illam (original) (raw)

Illam (/ˈɪləm/), also referred to as Mana, is the Malayalam word for the house of a Namboodiri Brahmin. In the traditional lineage system used for the classification and identification of homes based on the castes of Kerala, South India, an Illam served as the tharavad (ancestral house) of Namboodiri Brahmin families. The Namboodiris, who constituted the highest ranking caste of Kerala, also refer to their lineages as the Brahmaalayam. The family homes are built according to the canons of Vaasthusaasthram, meaning "architecture" in the Sanskrit language.