wayanad

Wayanad District (വയനാട്)) in the north-east of Kerala, India, was formed on November 1, 1980as the 12th district by carving out areas from Kozhikode and Kannur districts. Kalpetta is the district headquarters as well as the only municipal town in the district. The region was known as Mayakshetra (Maya's land) in the earliest records. Mayakshetra evolved into Mayanad and finally to Wayanad. But the Folk etymology of the word says it is a combination of Vayal(paddy) and Naad (land), making it 'The Land of Paddy Fields'. There are many indigenoustribals in this area. It is set high on the majestic Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2100 m.^[1]

Contents [hide] · 1 History · 2 Geography o 2.1 Mountains o 2.2 Rivers o 2.3 Climate · 3 Economy o 3.1 Agrarian crisis · 4 Demographics o 4.1 Politics · 5 Access · 6 Culture o 6.1 Places of importance · 7 Flora and fauna · 8 Education · 9 References · 10 External links

[edit]History

According to archaeological evidence, the Wayanad forests were inhabited more than 3 millenniums^[2]. Kurumbranadu Royal Dynasty of Kannur held rights to the land in early 18th century. The Senior Raja of Kottyam Swarupam(Kurumbbranadu) was hereditary rulers of part of wayand and he got palaces and shrines ( Theyathal Bhagavathy Temple)in “Kazhakottam and mathagod near Kuppakode . Each nadu was under Nayar Chieftains . 1, Muthornad –Raja’s direct control (Periya,Tavinjal,Edavaka areas) chieftains of these areas are Vazhuthatil Nair,Thavinjal nair, Muliyakizil nair, Ayiravittle, Alattil, Varayal nair and they known as “ Aaruvarambathu jenmimar” 2, Ellornad (Ilayavarnad- land of younger) was under the control of Elaya raja of western branch (PazhassiRaja),this consist of Vemom and Tirunelli areas was under two chieftains , Edachana Nayar ( Pazhasi’s General Edachena Kunnkan Nair is from this family) and Vemom Nambiar. Other places like Kuppathode(under Kuppathode Nair) Purakkad,Anjukunnu,Puthadi etc are under nair lords like tonder nair,pulpadi nair and chikkalur nair. Another branch known as Porunnanur Swarupam consist of nair lords like cherukara ,karingari, mangalasseri, vattathode nambiar etc, Kurumbala nadu was placed under Avinjat Nayar of Payyormala and Kurumbanadu was the son of Kottayam Senior Raja and got the title of Vazunor, two other nairs-Thenamangalathu and poyil nairs were his general and one branch of Avinjatt swarupam also known as” Kuthali Vazhunoor”(ruler of kuthali amsam).Kottapadi and Kalpatta and Vyathiri was under Kalpatta nair and kunthamangalathu nair,tonder nadu was under Nelliote Thirmulpadu,who granted it to his son Thonder Nambiar and his hereditary title was “Kovil” and his residence is known as “mel kotta”, muttil and pakkam were under pakkam (bhagiam) swarupam and veliyambam was under “Vazhunor of veliyambam .It briefly came under the rule of the Kingdom of Mysore as it campaigned in the Malabar coast. Senior Raja of Kurumbranadu helped the British in their fight against Tipu Sultan. Following Mysore's withdrawal the Pazhassi Raja( the head of western branch of the family) and the British parted their ways. And in 1799, after the fall of Tipu, the British took over Wayanad. Pazhassi Rajah engaged in a prolonged guerrilla war with the British until he was killed in 1805. When the state of Kerala came into being in 1956, Wayanad was a part of Kannur district; later in 1957 south Wayanad was added to Kozhikode district and north Wayanad remained with Kannur district. By amalgamating the north Wayanad and south Wayanad, the present Wayanad district came into being on the 1st November 1980 comprising of three taluks; Vythiry, Mananthavady, and Sulthan Bathery.

[edit]Geography

An elephant inside a teak forest, near Kalpetta

Chembra peak:View from Hrudaya Saras

Wayanad district stands on the southern top of the Deccan plateau and its chief glory is the majestic Western ghats with lofty ridges interspersed with dense forest, tangled jungles and deep valleys, the terrain is rugged. Quite a large area of the district is covered by forest but the continued and indiscriminate exploitation of the natural resources point towards an imminent environmental crisis.

[edit]Mountains

Chembra Peak (2,100 metres (6,890 ft)), Banasura peak (2,073 metres (6,801 ft)), Brahmagiri (1,608 metres (5,276 ft)) are some of the important mountains in the district.These mountains are also famously known as honeymoon site.

[edit]Rivers

The Kabini River, one of the three east flowing rivers of Kerala, is an important tributary of the Kaveri River. Almost the entire Wayanad district is drained by Kabini and its three tributaries, the Panamaram, Mananthavady, and Kalindy rivers. The Banasura Sagar Dam is built on one of tributaries of the Kabini River.

[edit]Climate

The distance from the mean sea level and forest cover creates a salubrious climate in the region. Generally the year is divided into four seasons; cold weather (December to February) hot weather (March to May) South Westmonsoon (June to September) and North East monsoon (October to November). During the hot weather the temperature goes up to a maximum of 35 °C (95 °F) and during the cold weather the temperature goes down to 10 °C (50 °F). The more perceived temperature variation in the last 5–6 years is in the range of 18 °C (64 °F) to 28 °C (82 °F). The average rainfall is 2,500 millimetres (98 in) per year.

[edit]Economy

Wayanad is 3.79% urbanised. Agriculture, is the main stay of the economy. Coffee, tea, cocoa, pepper, plantain and vanilla are the main crops. Besides these cash crops, the most important crop in the district is rice. Dams and aqueducts have been constructed to take water to the otherwise dry areas in the district.Price of land is going up even though Agrarian crisis.

[edit]Agrarian crisis

The district is prone to an agrarian crisis, due to the high dependence of the population on agricultural income. Between 1997 and 2005, more than 150,000 farmers across India have committed suicide, of which nearly 8% were from Kerala (11,516). 90% of this was in Wayanad and the reasons contributing to farmer suicide were mainly due to a crash in prices of locally-grown crops such as coffee, pepper, ginger, arecanut, etc. as well as plant epidemics. The NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) enacted by the current UPA government has helped and Wayanad and Palakkad were the only districts selected to receive the benefits under this scheme, the need being most acute in these districts^[3]. The daily wage under NREGS at Rs. 125, regardless of gender, in Kerala is the highest among all the states. Work under NREGS includes building elephant trenches (crop-raiding by wild elephants is another problem in Wayanad), waterbodies, roads, etc. Due to a combination of the NREGS and measures undertaken by the state government, in 2007, the state reported 10 farmer suicides as opposed to 131 in 2004.

[edit]Demographics

A tea plantation estate nearKalpetta

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No. of Taluks: 3 (Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Vythiri)
No. of state Assembly Legislators: 3 (North Wayanad, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta)
Lok Sabha Representation: 1 (Wayanad constituency).
District Headquarters: Kalpetta. Other Important Towns: Sulthan Bathery and Mananthavady.

At present, the area is still occupied by tribal populations who still practice age-old customs and rituals and live a nomadic life. Some of the tribal populations include Paniyas, Adiyas, Kattunayakan and Kurichiyans. It is the district with the highest share in the adivasi population (about 36%) of Kerala. Wayanad also has a large settler population. The Jains from Karnataka came in the 13th century. The Hindu Nairs from Kottayam-Kurumbranadu, in Kannur district, made an entry in the 14th century and established their feudal system. They were followed by Muslims. There was large scale migrations from southern Kerala in the early 1940s. Their hard work helped them to build prosperous lives.Christians who came in the 1950s from Travancore, were well established as plantation owners until the crash in the price of plantation crops. On the other hand, the last few decades have seen the complete marginalisation of the indigenous people. Alienated from their land, exploited by the settlers and neglected by the state, their struggle for rights to the land has so far been unsuccessful.

[edit]Politics

"Assembly Constituencies - Corresponding Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies" (PDF). Kerala. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-10-18.

All the three legislative constituencies in Wayanad Distinct (Kalpetta, Sulthan Bathery and Mananthavady)are part of the newly constituted Wayanad parliamentary constituency. The erstwhile North Wayanad constituency is now renamed as Mananthavady.

[edit]Access

The Kozhikode - Mysore National Highway 212 (NH 212) passes through Wayanad district. The nearest railway station is at Kozhikode, 75 km from Kalpetta. Kozhikode airport at Karipur is the nearest airport. Wayanad is well connected by road to various parts of Kerala and other neighbouring states. Buses go frequently between important centres. While travelling from Mysore on NH 212, at a place called Gundlupet the road forks, one goes to Ooty and the other goes to Sultan Batheri, which is a prominent town of Wayanad.

NH 212 passes through Bandipur National Park and then through the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary which is the Kerala state border. The roads are good except for some sections inside the Bandipur Forest.

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[edit]Culture

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on thetalk page. (March 2009)

[edit]Places of importance

There are various places of touristic, ecological, religious, and historic importance in the district.

§ Thirunelli Temple is a very old temple on the foothills of Brahmagiri.

§ Edakkal Caves, 32 km from Kalpetta near Ambalavayal, is famous for its pre-historic carvings and paintings. Muthanga is a wildlife sanctuary. It is on the way from Mysore to Sulthan Bathery. Wild animals such as bison, elephant, deer, and tiger has been spotted. There are also quite a few wild birds in the sanctuary. The Jain Temple near Koottamunda and the Ananthanatha Swami Temple.

§ Valliyoorkav is a temple of historic and social significance. Pallikunnu Church, 14 km from Kalpetta is a famous Pilgrim centre in north Kerala. Varambatta Mosque is one of the oldest mosque in wayanad and it's famous for varambata nercha. Mazhuvannur Siva Temple is an ancient Shiva temple near Tharuvana. Karat Siva Temple is a very old temple near Kommayad. Sulthan Bathery is famous for its fort, which was built by Tipu Sultan. The tomb of the chieftain Pazhassi Raja, who fought the British with the help of Kurichiya warriors, is in Mananthavady.

§ Lakkidi, the entry-point to Wayanad on the road from Kozhikode, receives one of the highest rainfalls in India.

§ Pookode lake is a famous tourist centre near Lakkidi. For the adventurous the Chembra peak and Banasura, both over 2000 m high, provide tough challenges.

§ Kuruva Dweep (10 km from Mananthavady) is a unique and fragile delta system on the Kabini River. An important and unusual pilgrim centre for sociologists and educationists is Kanavu a centre for alternative education which help the adivasis (tribals) to adapt to the challenges without losing their cultural moorings. *Ananthanatha Swami Temple, (also known as ParswanathaSwamy Jain Temple at Puliyarmala) is a beautiful Jain temple located at Puliyarmala, 6 km from Kalpetta. Pakshipathalam is a very popular trekking spot on the Kerala-Karnataka border.

§ Soochipara, Kanthapara, and Meenmutty are waterfalls in the Meppadi-Ambalavayal region.

§ Thovarimala ezhuthupara is 5 km from Sulthan Bathery have 400M trekking to reach Thovarimal Ezhuthupara we can see stone age pictorial writing on a rock

[edit]Flora and fauna

Sunrise At Wayanad

Fishing during Sunrise At Wayanad

Pookkod lake in summer, Wayanad

Please help improve this section by expanding it.Further information might be found on the talk page.(March 2009)

The flora of Wayanad are characteristic of the Western Ghats and the plantation crops grown in the cool climate. A major portion of the district is covered by coffee. Trees of the wild type like rose-wood, anjili (Artocarpus), mullumurikku (Erthrina), several species of caussia and many other non-descrip varieties are still preserved here and there, to give shade to the coffee plants. These trees give a dembalance of wilderness to the landscape of Wayanad. In a majority of coffee plantations, the age-old species are replaced by the silver-oak which is suited to the cold climate. This tree grows quickly and its cultivation is widespread among coffee plantations for shade and for giving support to pepper. It is used for the plywood industry and thus is economical to the farmers. Eucalyptus grandis, a shorter variety of eucalyptus, whose fragrant smell suffuses the very air around it, is cultivated on a large scale in centain parts of the district. Eucalyptus oil is extracted on commercial basis from its leaves. Of the 20,864 hectares of reserve forest, the major portion is teak plantation. Arecanut palms and jack trees are also grown here. Tea is grown as an industry in large estates. The soil and climate of Wayanad are suitable for horiculture on commercial basis. For promoting the cultivation of vegetables and raising of orchards, the Kerala Agricultural University is running a Regional Agricultural Research Station at Ambalavayal. With the clearing of forests, the diverse and buzzling animal life, characteristic of the forests of Western Ghats, has vanished from Wayanad. One can still see the bonnet monkeys, loris, mongooses, jungle cats, squirrels, jackals, hares, etc, in the limited forest areas. The World's longest venomous snake, King Cobra is also found here. Elephant, bear and other wild animals from the neighbouring wild life sanctuaries of Karnadaka and Tamil Nadu, stray into the Begur forest range and the forests around Muthanga, which is 20 kilometres away from the town of Sulthan Bathery.

Education

The Kerala government says: The recently established professional colleges like TheGovernment Engineering College in Mananthavady and Veterinary College in Pookode is set to change the traditional way of life of Wayanad in the professional education sector. That has been a reality today.