Kochi had its own archaeological Department since 1925, with K. Rama Pisharodi as its first head. Pisharodi was the principal of the Sanskrit College at Thrippunithura. He subjected the ruins of the temple at Chovvara Ambalaparambu and the church at Kumbalangi associated with the Portuguese and the Dutch to extensive scrutiny. He also represented Kochi at the fourth Oriental Conference held in Allahabad in December 1926.
P.Anujan Achan succeeded Rama Pisharodi in 1927. And the seat of the Department was shifted from Thrippunithura to the Thrissur Museum. Anujan Achan set about identifying and documenting the historically and archaeologically important monuments in the kingdom. He was instrumental in protecting Thiruvanchikulam, which was the seat of the second line of Cheraman Perumals. Thiruvanchikulam was facing ruin due to encroachments and reckless clay mining, so was the fortification known as Nedumkota or Travancore Lines built by the Travancore King Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma, with Kochi’s permission, as a bulwark against attacks from the Zamorins in the north. The 35-mile-long fortification, ruined during Tipu Sulthan’s raids, was inspected by Anujan Achan on foot in five days and a detailed report prepared. He also recovered cannon balls from the fort’s Konur gate. His recommendation that encroachments and clay mining should be banned forthwith if the monuments were to be preserved was accepted, and the government issued emergency orders. This was followed up with a promulgation to protect the ancient monuments of Kochi on the lines of the 1904 Indian Act. The Cochin legislation was known as the Ancient Monuments Preservation Regulation (IX of 1110 ME).
It was Anujan Achan who brought to light Narayan Iravivarman’s inscriptions at Oorakam and Kokkarani and the Portuguese records at Pulloott. He also reported on the need to preserve the ancient mural paintings extant in the principality. The government accepted his proposal and set up the SreeMoolam Chithrasala on the upper floor of the Thrissur Town Hall in 1938. Copies of 147 murals facing ruin on the walls of various temples, palaces and churches were made and displayed in the Chithrasala. Artists T.R. Madhava Warrier, V.S. Unni Nayar, and N.O. Antony made the copies with guidance from Jayantilal T. Parekh of Bombay and V.R. Chithra of the Madras School of Art.
The recovery of the largest ever hoard of Roman coins from Kerala at Eyyal also happened during the stewardship of Anujan Achan. The treasure was found in an earthen pot buried in mud at Eyyal in Thalappilli taluk by farmers digging for farming. Twelve of the 120 coins were gold, and the rest were silver. Some silver coins bore punch marks.
Cheramanparamba, which is believed to be the palace site of the Second Chera Perumals, is a three-acre plot south of the Thiruvanchikulam Temple at Kodungallore. Anujan Achan, who had received training at the Indian Institute of Field Archaeology under Mortimer Wheeler, excavated the site and recovered about a thousand-odd ancient articles including pots and pottery shards, glass beads, Chinese celadon shards, copper and iron tools, lead balls and carnelian beads. Mortimer Wheeler visited the site during the excavations.
Along with excavations, the search for a place to safeguard and exhibit the relics was resolved by converting the Town Hall into the Archaeological Museum in 1948. The Art Gallery (Chithrasala) that had been functioning on the upper floor of the Town Hall was merged with the Museum.
In 1946, V.D. Krishnaswamy, assistant superintendent of ASI, made an inventory of the megalithic monuments in Kochi with help from the Kochi Archaeological Department. This was the first documentation of the important megalithic age sites at Porkalam, Kattakambal, Kakkad, Eyyal, Cherumanangad, Ariyannur, Chovvannur, Vilvattom and Irunilankode, among others. Steps were also taken to locate and protect the megalithic age monuments in the forests in the eastern hill tracts.
An institution for gathering material such as palm leaf manuscripts, stone inscriptions, etc., that would promote research in the history of south India, especially Kerala, named the Rama Varma Research Institute, was set up in Thrissur in 1925. The Institute published its first journal in 1930. It brought out 15 volumes until 1948. The publication contained several authoritative research papers of historical and archaeological importance. Among the contributors of the journal were noted scholars like V.K.R. Menon, K.R. Krishna Pisharodi, A. Govinda Varier, T.K. Krishna Menon, K. Achyutha Menon and K.V. Krishna Iyer. The Rama Varma Research Institute was recognized in 1945 as the Cochin branch of the Archaeological Society of India. The Institute was well known even abroad as ‘India’s cultural institution’. Anujan Achan was its prime mover.
ASI deployed a team under B.K. Thapar in 1948 to excavate and explore the megalithic sites at Porkalam in Thalappilly taluk, near Kunnamkulam. Excavations were conducted in the months of February and March with assistance from the Kochi Archaeological Department. They primarily excavated the porthole cists, rock-cut caves, and capstone flush and recovered burial urns, four-legged jars, black and red pottery, carnelian beads, iron tools, and human bones. The finds were compared with similar recoveries from Tamil Nadu sites, and the Porkalam pottery was determined by Thapar to belong to a period between the 10th century before Christ and the first century C.E.
It is notable that while the Travancore Archaeological Department laid stress on studying inscriptions and records, the Cochin counterpart gave greater attention to field archaeology. The achievements of the Cochin Department in bringing out the Megalithic age remains at Cheramanparamba and the Porkalam scripts an important chapter in Kerala’s archaeological annals.
Archaeological studies at isolated locations in Malabar were taking place about the same time as the explorations in Travancore and Kochi. The excavations conducted by ethnographer A. Ayyappan in the laterite caves at Feroke were one such notable effort.
The Travancore and Cochin archaeological Departments were merged in 1949, with Anujan Achan at the helm of the merged entity. After the formation of Kerala State in 1956, the Kerala Archaeology Department came into being.
