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Zamorin is the anglicised version of Samoothirippadu or Samoothiri Raja, a title of the rulers of the erstwhile Hindu state of Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), located in the present day state of Kerala, India, between the 14th and 18th century. The royal family is divided into three branches ,viz. Kizhakke (East) Covilakam, located in Kottakkal, Puthiya (New) Kovilakam, located in Thiruvannur and Padinjara (West) Kovilakam located in Mankaavu, all three are currently within the modern district of Calicut or Kozhikode. The family follows the well-known Marumakkathayam law of inheritance, by which the succession is always to the offspring of its female members only, and among these the next eldest male to the Zamorin is the heir-apparent. On the death of the Zamorin, his successor is always the oldest male from any of these three Kovilakams or branches. The next in line is known as the‘Eralppad Raja’ Kizhakke Covilakam, one of the three branches of Zamorin’s family (referred also as Nedi yiruppu Swarupam), gained its present identity as Kottakkal Kizhakke Covilakam, towards the end of Eighteenth Century. Members of this branch, having left their original base at Calicut, had to temporarily settle in Ennakkat Palace in Travancore under the hospitality of Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma, the then Maharaja of Travancore, during Tippu’s invasion of Malabar. The family returned to Malabar and settled at Kottakkal in the year 1800A.D. The first female member of the family to come and settle at Kottakkal Kizhakke Covilakam was Manorama Thampuratty (1760-1828 A.D.) along with her children, two sons and three daughters. She was a great scholar and her successors too were initiators of educational and cultural development. Dr. K.C.K. E. Raja hails from this family.>* #