Vengalil family

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The Vengalil family is an aristocratic South Indian family that was extremely powerful in Kerala during much of the British Raj. Closely affiliated with the dewanship of Travancore and related to the royal families of Cochin and Travancore, the Vengalil family were ranked among India's greatest landowners until the rise of communist government in Kerala, owning such cotorversial regions as the hydroelectric power center of Kuttiyadi. Influential members include politician V.K. Krishna Menon and author Janaki Ram, as well as Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer by marriage. Numerous members of the Vengalil family held titles equivalent to that of Thakur or Raja in north India.