Administration

In ancient periods, King or local chieftains are owned and administered temples. Some of the temples were owned by madams, tharawads or individuals. The present Alapuzha district was under the erstwhile princely state of Travancore. The area spreading from Kanyakumari at south to Angamali at north was under the regency of Maharaja of Travancore. During the regime of Regent Rani Gouri Lekshmi Bai (1810-1815), foreign supremacy was at its peak and Col.Munro, the British Resident brought all the 1471 temples of Travancore under the control of Government. In 1904, Travancore Religious & Endowment Regulation established control over the temples. In 1922 a separate department was formed exclusively to look after the matters of temples. After independence the Government of Travancore–Cochin formed Travancore Devaswom Board and Cochin Devaswom Board and administrative control of all temples have been transferred to the Devaswom Boards. Travancore Devaswom Board controls more than 1200 temples of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and parts of Ernakulam districts. Though majority of temples are under the administrative control of Travancore Devaswom Board, a good number of temples are still governed by Trusts, committees of local people, spiritual organizations, individuals etc.