Judge kochitty kuruvilla 1785 - 1851

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Kochitty Kuruvilla was born when the  benevolent king Dharma Raja ( Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma - 1758-1798) was ruling  Travancore.  This  period   is considered  as  the Golden  Age  in  the  history   of Travancore.  His  parents died when he was very young. His grandfather and the elder brother Cherian brought him up. Kochitty even from his childhood days grew up trusting in God and walked in the ways of the Lord. He believed that "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".

 He was good in studies and learned Sanskrit and Tamil apart from Malayalam. He also learned southern Malayalam known  as  Nanam Moonan  which  was the medium of administration in those days. Later he studied law at Trivandrum under the guidance of Ayyappan Pillai of the illustrious Madavana Hindu Nair family.

He married  Annamma  from  Thoompunkal  family  founded  by  Pakalomattom  Sankaran   Narayanan Bhattathiri  and  lived in Poothicote Puthen Purackal, a   house  on  the  northern side of the river.    After giving  birth  to  five  children,  Annamma  died  unexpectedly.  He later married another  Annamma from Mavelikkara who bore him five more children.

His official term as judge was  during the  reign  of   two  regent  queens,  Sethu Lakshmibai   and    Sethu Parvathibai.   During  those days, there were some qualities  that  were  looked  into by  the royalty    for appointment of  Christian Judges. Aristocracy, Lineage, Wealth, Family support, Education, Reputation, Influence, Trust  worthy  and  Personality.  His  first  appointment  was as  Additional  District  Judge   of Kollam in 1818 and later he served as District Judge in Mavelikara, Paravoor and Cherthala. He was an honest and  fear less  judge  but  this  had  brought  him  some  problems as well.  Once a prominent and powerful  Nair  defendant    tried  to   influence him  by offering him  a  bribe  but  he refused.  Later   the disappointed man and his relatives made some allegations against him. Chief Justice of Travancore who was an Englishman conducted an investigation and  thereafter  exonerated  him and  complimented him for his honesty and integrity.

The Sheeravallil Pottees  were  a  prominent and  rich  Brahmin family  in  Mepral. They came  to   Mepral during the invasion of Kerala by Tipu Sultan. The Maharajah appointed these Pottees as the chiefpriests in  the Thiruvalla  Temple. Once  for some reason,  when they had  to return  to  Malabar  for  a few years, they    entrusted  all  their  land  and   gold  to Judge  Kochittty  though  they had  many   powerful   Hindu relatives living  in  Mepral.   A few years  later  when  they  returned  ,  he returned all the wealth and the accrued income. 

He had a large number of workers from Christian, Nair, Ezhava, Pulaya and Paraya communities and he treated  them  well.   After all, managing 700 acres of Paddy fields and 700 plots of land was not an easy task even then. 

Judge Kochitty Kuruvilla passed away in 1851 at his  home. His  final  resting place  is  inside   Niranam Church  just north of  the  tomb  of  Marthoma II Metropolitan.