Legacy, of the man and the name

The story of Palar begins with Palar Estate, a 300 acre land with cardamom plantation owned and cultivated by R.B. Balagurunathan Chettiar alias Minor Rajangam Chettiar a cardamom trader from Kombai, Theni in Tamil Nadu who sought to make a new chapter of his life in the hills of Idukki. When he first came to this new land in 1952, the place had hardly any agriculture and most place was either forests or grasslands.

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The waterfalls in his new land inspired him to give it a name resembling frothing milk and thus he named his estate, Palar Estate. Developing the land and crops sustainably paved way to labour coming in from different lands, trade and small towns building up and finally to the village of Palar. In the aftermath of a major offset in his business and profits, some land was sold and some given to his labourers free of cost to settle in. And a village with life and people was built. Although Palar Estate is just a memory for many, the village retained the name and when we began our venture we couldn’t find a better name than Palar as it resembled our history, our story and the land at its best.

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