The Valiya Peedika Tharavad was completed in the year 1667-68. People shortened it to Valudi. Kunji Kalanthar Marayakar, who belonged to Tharavat, built the big Peedika Taravad. History tells us about the two sons of Kunjali Maraikar III. . Ali Ibrahim Maraikkar (Don Pedro Rodrigues) and Ahmed Maraikkar. Ahmed Maraikkar had two sons. Kunji Kalanthar Maraikkar and Kutty Athan Maraikkar (Kutty Hassan) in a ceremony held in Kodungallur in 1667, the Samuthiri king gave Kunji Kalanthar Maraikkar the position of fifth Kunjali.
Until then they lived near Iringal. Kunjikalantar Maraikar, who got the position of the fifth Kunjali and got the entire authority from Korapuzha to Kottapuzha, built a big Peedika family house in Kottakal along with his mother, relatives, wife, and brother. Kadeesha Umma says that the old Valudi homestead had 16 rooms. Their youth was spent in a large Peedika. Later they moved to Nalakath Puthiya Purail, a branch of Valudi. I have seen in my youth that the remains of the floor (floor) of the Valudi Tharavadi were for some time behind where the present house stands. These things were remembered by the barren people of Kotakkale and told to the old man.
In 1668, only the royal palaces had the authority to cultivate oat. Along with that, there were a lot of coconut trees in the big peedika family and the reason for the movement was that instead of running, they were left behind. The people who used to graze straw for the family were the people who lived in Kottathuruth across the river near the Kottakal Juma Masjid. After the reign of Kunjali IV, the area called Kottakkall was uninhabited until 1667. It was then that the great Peetika was formed and Kottakkall again became a center of population. From the concept of a big house comes the name big house.
It was a big house with Kalari floor and everything. After the fifth Kunjali there was a sixth Kunjali and a seventh Kunjali. It was during the time of Kunjali VI that an agreement was made with the French and they agreed to build a town at Kottakal. In those days most of the trade was centered on the rivers. Towns were located on river banks and sea shores. Kunjali VI gave land to the French to build a town behind today’s Angadi Church in Kottakal. That place is still covered with forest. But the French cheated Kunjali. The town was not made. This was an agreement they made with Kunjali VI to get back the French ships captured by Kunjali VI on the instructions of Vadakara Vazhunnora, the ruler of Vadakara. But after getting the ships back the French cheated.. the town was not built. Angered by this, Kunjali VI reached the French center at Mayyazhi and killed the French captain with his sword. On his way back on horseback, he was shot dead by the French at Mahi. Then there were heavy attacks against the occupying forces in Mahi and Thalassery. Many French and English were killed. Later the seventh was ordained. He was killed in the battle with the British in Kannur. After that, the Maraykar family did not take up the position of Kunjali.
By the 1930s, the great Peedika family began to decline financially. It was then that the family home was made smaller. It was at that time that the British increased taxes sharply. The tax burden could not be borne by the great Peedika family. The family and lands were confiscated by the British. After a few years, Kader Haji Maraikkar, Toppil Moitu Haji Maraikkar, and VP Asenaar Maraikkar, who became financially better off through trade, bought the land and some lands back in their name when they were auctioned by the British. They came to a decision not to demolish the house until the man vacated and shared the rest of the land. Later in the 1970s-80s, the sons of Mammukoya, Asainar Marayaks, and Thopil Moitu Haji gave the ancestral home to the government to be made a memorial by the Kunhali Marayaks. After the 1990s, the government razed the palace and transformed it into its present form.
