Poonjar is a small town in the Kottayam district of Kerala state, India. Before the independence of India, Poonjar had been the capital of the Poonjar Koyikkal Swaroopam or Edavaka

 Poonjar

he dynasty that controlled the area prior to 1949 claimed descent from the Pandyan Kings of the Sangam Age. They migrated from Madurai during one of the incessant civil wars in Tamil country in 1152 AD. The founder of the Poonjar dynasty was Manavikrama Kulashekhara Perumal. His mother was a Chera princess. In his flight from Madurai over the Nilgiri hills, he and his family carried with them one of the three idols of Meenakshi, their "Kula Devatha", which was used in the annual car festival of Meenakshi Sundareswara. It was established as a "Pratishtha" in the Meenakshi temple on the banks of the Meenachil river. Manavikraman Raja purchased the land that covers present day Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts from the Thekkancoor Rajas. Erattupetta was the commercial center of the Poonjar kingdom.