PALAKKAD

''For the district with the same name, see 'Palakkad District'''.
'Palakkad', also known as 'Palghat' (anglicized), is a town and a municipality in the state of Kerala in southern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District. Palakkad lies near the Palghat Gap, a pass or natural depression through the Western Ghats ranges that run parallel to the west coast of India, and connects Kerala to the plains of the state of Tamil Nadu to the east. The people of Palakkad generally speak Malayalam, though Tamil is also widely understood as it is close to the Tamil Nadu border.

Contents

Transport

Demographics

Places of Interest

Famous festivals

Educational Institutions In Palakkad

Places of worship

See also

External links

Transport

Palakkad is well connected by roads. National Highway 47 from Salem to Kanyakumari and the Palakkad-Kozhikode National Highway 213 pass through the district. Another important road is the ''Palakkad-Ponnani'' which connects NH 47 and NH 17.
Palakkad is a railway junction on India's Southern Railway. The cities of Pollachi, Dindigul and Madurai are connected by the meter-gauge line starting from here. Trains on this line bring vegetables, fish and dairy products from other cities.
The nearest airport is at Coimbatore, 52 km from Palakkad. The nearest international airport is the Cochin (Kochi) International airport, 120km from Palakkad.

Demographics

In the 2001 census^[1], Palakkad had a population of 130,736. Males constituted 49% of the population. Palakkad had an average literacy rate of 81%, much higher than the national average of 59.5%.

Places of Interest

★ Palakkad Fort - Fort dating from 1766, built by Hyder Ali of Mysore. In 1784, after a siege which lasted eleven days, the British Colonel Fullerton stormed the Fort. Later it fell into the hands of the Zamorin’s troops, but was recaptured by the British in 1790. This well-preserved fort is also known as Tipu's (Tipu Sultan, son of Hyder Ali) Fort. Today there is a functioning jail in the fort grounds.

★ Malampuzha dam garden. This is a large irrigation dam built on the river Bharathapuzha at the base of the hills of the Western Ghats. The gardens, the amusement park for children, and the boating facilitices on the reservoir make Malampuzha a centre of interest for tourists, easily accessible from Palakkad.


★ Jain Temple of Jainimedu - Situated on the western border of Palakkad town and not far from the railway station, this is an historic Jain Temple. The area around the temple is known as Jainimedu. This is one of the few places in Kerala where vestiges of Jainism have survived without substantial damage. The granite walls are devoid of decoration. The temple, 32 feet long and 20 feet wide, consists of four divisions with images of Jain Thirthankaras and Yakshinis in three of them. Kumaran Asan wrote his monumental poem ''Veena Poovu'' (the fallen flower) at a Jain house here during his brief stay with his master Sri. Narayana Guru.

★ Parambikulam The Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, covering 285 km², is 135 km from Palakkad and adjacent to the Annamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Besides being a home for elephants, wild boar, sambar, bison, guar, crocodiles, and a few tigers and panthers, it has a rich diversity of flora and fauna. Trekking in the forest is allowed with prior permission. Boating facilities are available on the lake. The large Cannimare Teak Tree is here near Thunakadavu.

★ Silent Valley National Park A dense rain forest and the habitat of rare species 80 km from Palakkad. It is popularly known as the evergreen forest and noted for its eerie silence because of the lack of cicadas. It is an important biosphere reserve in the Western Ghats and home of the tribal people. The valley is known for the rare Lion-Tailed Macaque. This National Park is a protected area for tigers also.


★ Nelliyampathi Known as the Ooty of Kerala, Nelliampathy, about 80 km from Palakkad, is a hill station in the Nelliampathy forest ranges. This forest range constitutes a series of ridges cut off from one another by valleys of dark evergreen forests.

★ Pothundy Dam Around 35 Kms from Palakkad town, Pothundy Dam is situated on the way to Nelliyampathi hills. The hill area to Nelliyampathy hills starts from Pothundy Dam. People visiting Nelliyampathi use to stop here to enjoy the beauty of the Dam as well to relax during their long journey to Nelliyampathi hills.

★ Anamudi The highest peak in the district. The area has coffee and tea plantations.


★ Attappady Attappady is an extensive mountain valley above the crest of the Ghat ranges, with several rivulets of the river Bhavani. The area is dominated by tribal people.

★ Punarjani Guha The Punarjani Guha is a natural tunnel 15 meters long in the rocky cliff. It is 2 km from the Thiruvilwamala Temple and the chief presiding deity is Sri Rama. The idol is believed to be ‘swayambhoo’, i.e. born on its own. It is believed that performing ‘noozhal’ -- crawling through the tunnel from one end to the other -- will wash away all of one’s sins and thus bring about rebirth. Only men are allowed to do the ‘noozhal’: women may only visit the cave. This ritual is practised on only one day per year, on Guruvayur Ekadashi.

★ Killikkurussimangalam This small village is the birthplace of the famous Malayalam satire poet and founder of the Ottamthullal art form, Kunchan Nambiar. The home of the greatest Koodiyattam maestro and authority of abhinaya Natyacharya Vidushakaratnam, Padma Shri Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar, is also here.

★ Kanhirapuzha Dam This dam feeds almost half the agricultural land of the district. It supplies water to such places as Mannrkkad, Ottappalam and Shoranur, and is the biggest dam built with soil in Kerala. There is a garden in front of the dam.

★ Peruvemba Well known for its festivals, the Chandabhishegam in December and Peruvemba Vela in April.

★ Kalpathi Most famous of the eighteen agraharams of Palakkad, for its annual Ratholsavam.

★ Shekaripuram A small and welcoming village, one of the many villages of Palakkad.

Famous festivals

pudussery vedi - Feb 28

Kalpathi Ratholsavam

Chittur Konganpada

Nemmara-Vallanghi Vela- Nemmara Vela Photographs

Manappullikavu Vela

Mangottu Kavu Temple Vela - Second sunday after Vishu(every year)

Vadakkanthara Vela (only once every 3 years)

Ashtami Rohini (Sreekrishna Jayanthi) (Kunnathurmedu Sreekrishna Temple )

Kizhkencherry Ratholsavam - Dec 25

Thiruvara Niramaala - Dec 28

Karumanassery Ratholsavam - Dec 29

Tattamangalam Angadi Vela Angadi Vela Photographs - celebrated every 2 years

Puthur-Vela - April 7

Peruvemba Vela [1]

Kannambra Vela - May 24

Nurani Sasthapreethi (Every year end of Dec - beginning of Jan)

Puthucode Navaratri Festival for 9 days September - October.

Kallepully Kummati Kummati Festival during February - March every year

Kongad Pooram Festival at the Kongad Shri Thirumandankunnu Bhagavati Temple during March- April every year
Mangod pooram festival at mangottukav bhagavathy temple, it is situated near the heritage villege vellinezhi
PariyanamPatta Pooram Pooram at the Pariyanampatta temple, MangalamKunnu, Palakkad. Its the famous festival of VAlluvanadu. The pooram day is (Malayalam)Kumbam 7.

★ Manapullikavu Vella

Educational Institutions In Palakkad

★ NSS College of Engineering,Palakkad Home Page

★ College of Applied Science,Vadakkencherry Home Page

★ Government Victoria College, Palakkad Victoria College on Net

★ NSS College, Ottapalam

★ NSS College, Nemmara,[2]

★ SN College, Alathur

★ Mercy College,Palakkad [3]

★ Govt College ,Chitoor,Palakkad

★ Govt Polytechnic, Palakkad, Palakkad

★ Kendriya Vidayala Ottapalam,[4]

★ Railway High School

★ Kendriya Vidyalaya Kanjikode

★ Chinmaya Vidyalaya Pallavur

★ MES Kalladi College Mannarkad

★ M.P.Moothedath Memorial Sree Narayanaguru College, Shoranur

★ A.K.N.M.M.A.Memorial High School , Kattukulam

Places of worship

★ The ''Anjaneya (Lord Hanuman) Temple'' inside Palakkad Fort attracts good number of devotees.

★ Manappulli kavu - Devi Temple.

★ Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanatha Swamy temple[5] at Kalpathy.

★ Thirupuraikkal Temple at Vadakkanthara.

★ Chinakkattur kavu of Palappuram, Ottappalam

★ Killikkurussi Mahadeva Temple, Killikkurussimangalam - On Vaykkathashtami a large mass annadana is arranged here.

★ Kunnathurmedu Sreekrishna Temple is located at the heart of the Palakkad Town. A beautiful Vigraha, (idol) depicting Sreekrishna as a child is an attraction of this temple. The main festival of the temple is Ashtami Rohini (Sreekrishna Jayanthi). It is the only Sreekrishna Temple in Palakkad Town.

★ Pariyanampatta Mookambika Temple located at Mangalamkunnu,32km far from Palakkad.It is one of the famous Mookambika temple in Valluvanad.

★ Mangottu Kavu Temple located at Athipotta

★ Guruvayoorappan Temple of Chinmaya Mission

★ Emoor Bhagavathi Temple at Kallekkulangara

★ Shasta, Ganesha, Shiva and Mahavishnu temples at Nurani and Thondikulam

★ Puthur Sree Thirupuraikkal bhagavathy Temple at Puthur

★ Lord Shiva Temple Ambalanada at Thenkurissi

★ Chittur kavu - Devi temple.

★ Pudussery kavu - a Devi temple. The annual pooram festival starts at pudussery in the Malayalam month called Meenam.

★ Pallassena Kavu - a Temple located 20 km from Palakkad town.

★ Lord Shiva (Brahmeeswaran) Temple situated in Karimpuzha village, 25 km from Palakkad town.

★ Vaazhaali Bhagavathi Temple Nellikkurissi, Mulanjoor,Ottappalam.

★ Sree Kurumba Temple Karakurissi.

★ SreeRamaswamy Temple, Karimpuzha (25 km from Palakkad) situated on the banks of Karimpuzha river.

★ Manapullikavu temple, Manapullikavu (about a kilometer and half from town)

See also

★ Kalpathi

★ Sultanpet

★ Melamuri

★ Nurani

★ Olavakkode

★ Tirunellayi

★ Shekaripuram

External links

★ http://www.Palakkadtourism.org - Palakkad Tourism information,

★ http://www.Palakkad.tk - Palakkad Tourism information

★ http://www.PalakkadNews.com - News updates from Palakkad