Kayal Raja Muricken

Murickummoottil Joseph Thommen (d. 1972-Dec-9), known locally as Kayal Raja, Muricken was an Indian visionary and social worker, who transformed parts of the Vembanad Lake of Kuttanad, Kerala, in south India from a marshy backwater into the rice bowl of Kerala, giving much needed jobs to tens of thousands and produced scarce grain for the population ravaged by the restrictions and scarcity of the World War I and II. Kayal in Malayalam means lake so Kayal Raja may be translated as King of Lake. He did cultivation in a very large extent of reclaimed area and achieved such a success that he was crowned as "Krishi Rajan" (farmer king) by the then prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Muricken was born as "Murickummoottil Joseph Thommen", the first word being his family name. He had two sisters, and the burden of taking care of his family fell early on his shoulders when his father died.^{[citation needed]}

He was a devout Catholic who built seven churches in his home state of Kerala. Muricken was one of the few who had the rare opportunity to have an audience with the Pope in his private chambers. This was on June 6, 1960.