page_title: Agraharam
hierarchical_section_title: Agraharam
caption_attribution_description: English: Reconstructed agraharam found at Dakshina Chitra, Chennai. Photo taken by me with D70s. Credit is appreciated though not mandatory.
context_page_description: An Agraharam or Agrahara was a grant of land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family in India, for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land or a pilgrimage site and to sustain their families. Agraharams were also known as Chaturvedimangalams in ancient times. They were also known as ghatoka, and boya. Agraharams were built and maintained by dynasties such as the Cholas and Pallavas.
  The name originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held to be two rows of houses running north–south on either side of a road at one end of which would be a temple to Shiva and at the other end, a temple to Vishnu. An example is Vadiveeswaram in Tamil Nadu.
  With Brahmins taking up professions in urban areas and some migrating abroad, Agraharams are vanishing fast. Many of the traditional houses are giving way to concrete structures and commercial buildings.
context_section_description: An Agraharam or Agrahara was a grant of land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family in India, for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land or a pilgrimage site and to sustain their families. Agraharams were also known as Chaturvedimangalams in ancient times. They were also known as ghatoka, and boya. Agraharams were built and maintained by dynasties such as the Cholas and Pallavas.
  The name originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held to be two rows of houses running north–south on either side of a road at one end of which would be a temple to Shiva and at the other end, a temple to Vishnu. An example is Vadiveeswaram in Tamil Nadu.
  With Brahmins taking up professions in urban areas and some migrating abroad, Agraharams are vanishing fast. Many of the traditional houses are giving way to concrete structures and commercial buildings. Agraharams were started in south India during the Pallava period since they followed Vedas. Initially the Agraharam was maintained fully using royal patronage but later the Agraharam become a self-sustaining economy. Somina Venkata Subrahmanyam s/o Somina Lakshamna murthy migrated from vedurupaka village on job grounds worked as thasildar for Narsipatnam taluk purchased lands 130 acres in yb agraharam village,manyapuratla village and gannavaram village. Somina venkata subrahmanyam acquired patta no:1 based on revenue records and has only person has vote in entire Narsipatnam taluk.
caption: An Agraharam from Tirunelveli assembled within the DakshinaChitra museum.
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