Government of Kerala - State Insignias

State Insignias

The Kerala State Emblem is a derivative version of the Royal coat of arms of the Kingdom of Travancore. The state emblem symbolizes two elephants guarding the Imperial Shanku in its Imperial crest. The Imperial Counch Crest or Shanku was the Imperial Insignia of Lord Sree Padmanabha (A form of Lord Vishnu)- the National Deity of Travancore. Shanku was considered as one of the common emblems of majority of Kerala feudal kingdoms. The Kingdom of Cochin and Zamorin's Malabar also had counch as state emblems. When the Kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore merged in 1949, for a brief period, the crest carried a wheel or chakra in centre with Shanku on top of it. With accession of Malabar into Travancore-Cochin, the state of Kerala was formed in 1957. During this time, the royal coat of arms of the Travancore kingdom was modified by placing the "Lion Capital of Ashoka" on top of the Imperial conch. The Travancore Royal Family uses the erstwhile Royal Coat of Arms of Travancore today, whereas Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Trivandrum uses only the Imperial Conch crest as its Coat of Arms.

The state animal of Kerala is elephant and the government emblem has also two elephants in it. The state bird is the Great Indian hornbill (ML:മലമ്പുഴക്കി വേഴാമ്പല്‍), the state flower is the Golden shower (ML:കണിക്കൊന്ന) and the state tree is the coconut tree and the state fish is pearlspot or karimeen ( കരിമീന്‍‌ )