Kerala ; God's Own Country !!

KERALAGOD'S OWN COUNTRY

KERALA

• Formed on 1st November 1956

• Capital of Kerala is Thiruvananthapuram

• Language spoken is Malayalam

• Kerala consists of 14 districts

• 44 rivers

• A vast network of lakes

• 1500 Km’s of labyrinthine canals

• Population is 33,387,677

Why Is Kerala Called God’s Own Country ?

According to Hindu mythology, Kerala was created by Lord Parasuramsaa, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu by throwing his axe

across the sea to create new land for his devotees to live peacefully.

Every nook and corner in Kerala you will see Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and Christian Churches; and unlike many other parts of India, people live happily without communal riots and

great religious tolerance.

Nestled between the pristine waters of the Arabian sea on the west and the lush Western Ghats mountains on the east, its

intense network of rivers and lagoons, thick forests, exotic wildlife, tranquil stretches of emerald backwaters and a long shoreline of

serene beaches make it a traveler's paradise.

Hence Kerala Is Known As God’s Own Country.

Parasurama, surrounded by settlers, commanding Varuna to part the seas and reveal Kerala.

Location

• Located on the south-west region of India on

the Malabar coast.

• At 8.5074' North - East-76. 972’

• Adjacent to Arabian sea in the west,

Tamilnadu in the east-south, Karnataka in

north and north-east.

• Area = 38,863 Sq. Km.

Climate data for Kerala

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Average high °C

28 30 31 32 34 34 30 29 29 30 30 31 34

Average low °C

22 23 24 25 25 24 23 23 23 23 23 22 22

CLIMATE

KeralaGOD'S OWN COUNTRY

Districts

Kerala has 14 districts.

North Kerala: Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode

and Malappuram.

Central Kerala: Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulum and Idukki.

South Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha,

Pathanamthitta and Kottayam.

Backwater symphony

Religion

Hindus: 56%

Muslims: 24%

Christians: 19%

Others (Sikhs, Jainism, Buddhism, Jainism): 1%

Flora and fauna

Over 4,000 species of flowering plant .

Over 900 species of medicinal plants .

Over 300 species of birds .

Over 202 species of freshwater fishes .

Over169 species of reptiles .

Over 89 species of amphibians .

Over 1,000 species of trees .

State symbols of Kerala

Animal Indian elephant

Bird Great Hornbill

Fish Pearl Spot

Flower Golden Shower Tree Flower

Tree Coconut tree

Government and Administration

• Democratically elected body the governs state of Kerala 5 years.

• 140 constituency Assembly.• Present Governor is Hansraj Bhardwaj.• Present CM is Oommen Chandy.• High court situates in Ernakulum.

• Current chief justice is Manjula Chellar.• Two major political alliances:

United Democratic Front (UDF) Indian National Congress (INC) Left Democratic Front (LDF)

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))

The Kerala Legislative Assembly Building in Thiruvananthapuram

Education

Literacy is 93.91% which is the Highest in

India.

Medical Colleges : 5

Universities : 5

ECONOMY

AGRICULTURE

• Kerala produces 97% of National output of pepper

• Kerala produces 85% National output of rubber.

• The key crops : rice, coconut, tea, coffee, rubber,

cashews, pepper, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon,

and nutmeg.

• Nearly half of Kerala’s population is engaged in

agriculture.

A scenic landscape, with water filled paddy fields.

FISHERIES

• 590 km of coastal belt.

• 400,000 hectares of inland water resources.

• about 220,000 active fishermen.

• Kerala is one of the leading producers of fish in India.

• about 1.1 million people earn their livelihood from fishing.

• contributes to about 3% of the total economy of the state.

Industries

• Large Scale Production: Steel, handloom, Handicraft

Khadi and Coir etc.

• Small Scale Production: Tea, cashews, pepper,

Coffee etc.

• Kalamassery and Kanjikode are the two main

Industrial areas.

• Techno Park, Info park and Kinfra were the IT cities.

KINFRA Industrial Park, Thalaserry

Culture

The culture of Kerala is composite and

cosmopolitan in nature and it's an integral part of

Indian culture

• There are around 10,000 festivals celebrated in

the state.

• Important festival:

• Onam

• Temple Festival : Thrissur Pooram , Makaravilakku

Onam

• Onam is a harvest festival celebrated by the people of Kerala.• The festival falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam

(Aug–Sep) • marks the homecoming of the mythical King Mahabali .• It is one of the festivals celebrated with most number of

cultural elements: • Vallam Kali• Pulikkali• Pookkalam• Onatthappan• Thumbi Thullal• Onavillu• Kazhchakkula• Onapottan• Atthachamayam

Temple Festivals• Kerala has a large number of Hindu temples.

• Some festivals include Poorams, the most famous of these being the Thrissur Pooram.

• Major Hindu temple festivals: • Makaravilakku

• Thrissur Pooram

• Nenmara Vallangi Vela

• Attukal Pongala

• Vrishchikotsavam

• Ashtami

• Kodungalloor Bharani

• Chettikulangara Bharani

• Guruvayoor Anayottam

• Chottanikkara Makam

• Sivarathri festival

• Maradu Thalappoli .

SABARIMALA

DANCE

• Kerala is home to a number of performance arts. • Five classical dance forms:

• Kathakali• Mohiniyattam• Koodiyattom• Thullal • Krishnanattam

• Christians traditional dance forms such as Margamkali, Parichamuttu and Chavittu nadakom .• Oppana and Duffmuttu are popular among the Muslims

of the state.

MUSIC

Kerala have rich collections of folk songs and ballads associated with a variety of

themes:• Vadakkan Pattukal(northern Ballads)• Thekkan Pattukal (Southern Ballads)• Vanchi Pattukal (Boat Songs)• Mappila Pattukal (Muslim Songs) • Pallipattukal (Church Songs)

CINEMA

• Directors from Kerala, like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, John Abraham, P. Padmarajan, G. Aravindan and Shaji N Karun have made a considerable contribution to the Indian parallel cinema.

• Kerala has also given birth to numerous actors, such as Satyan, Bharath Gopi, Prem Nazir, Mohanlal, Adoor Bhasi, Jayan, Mamooty, Sreenivasan, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Jayaram, Murali, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar and Nedumudi Venu.

• Late Malayalam actor Prem Nazir holds the world record for having acted as the protagonist of over 720 movies.

• Since the 1980s, actors Mammootty and Mohanlal have dominated the movie industry.

• Malayalam Cinema has produced a few more notable personalities such as K.J. Yesudas, K.S. Chitra, Vayalar Rama Varma, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, and O.N.V. Kurup.

• Also there many yputh icons in Malayalam film industries: Fahad Faasil ,Dulquer Salmaan ,Asif Ali ,Nazriya Nazim ,Sanusha etc.

LITERATURE

• Malayalam literature starts from the late medieval period • 14th-century Niranam poets :Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and

Rama Panikkar .• 17th-century poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, whose works mark the

dawn of both modern Malayalam language and poetry.• Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar and Kerala Varma Valiakoi

Thampuran are noted for their contribution to Malayalam prose.• Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon, and Ulloor S. Parameswara

Iyer, are recognised for moving Keralite poetry away from archaic sophistry and metaphysics, and towards a more lyrical mode.

• In the second half of the 20th century, Jnanpith winning poets and writers like G. Sankara Kurup, S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, M. T. Vasudevan Nairand O. N. V. Kurup had made valuable contributions to the modern Malayalam literature.

• Later, writers like O. V. Vijayan, Kamaladas, M. Mukundan, Arundhati Roy, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, had gained international recognition.

Indulekha, the first major novel in Malayalam ,written by O Chandu Menon

Cuisine

• Food in Kerala is light, fresh and easy to eat.• The main food items are rice, coconut and vegetables, apart from

fish.• Food is traditionally eaten by the hand and served on a banana leaf. • Another interesting feature is the abundant use of coconut oil, chilli,

mustard seeds, curry leaves, and coconut milk.• Breakfast : idli, puttu, Idiyappam, or pulse-based vada or tapioca • Lunch dishes : rice and curry along with rasam, pulisherry and sambar.• Sadhya is a vegetarian meal, that is served on a banana leaf and

followed with a cup of payasam. A normal Sadhya can have about 24-28 dishes served as a single course.

• Popular snacks: banana chips, yam crisps, tapioca chips, unniyappam and kuzhalappam.

• Sea food : karimeen, prawn, shrimp and other crustacean dishes.

Sports

• Kalaripayattu, regarded as "the mother of

all martial arts in the world", as an

exception was practiced as indigenous

martial sport.

• Another traditional sport of Kerala is the

boat race, especially the race of Snake

boats.

Tourism

• Its culture and traditions, coupled with its varied demographics, have made Kerala one of the most popular tourist destinations in India.

• National Geographic's Travelers magazine names Kerala as one of the "Ten Paradises Of The World”

• Kerala is Established Tourist place for Indians and non-Indians.

• The important tourist places were is Kovalam, Cherai, kappad, Bepur Beaches.

• Hill stations were Munnar, Thekkadi, Nelliyampathy, Wayanad.

• Cochin, Alappuzha, AthirappImally falls were also the Important tourist places.

Varkala beachAn estuary in Paravur, Kollam

Munnar, a hill station and a hamlet in Kerala

The stone sculpture of Kuruvan and Kuruvati at Ramakkalmedu in

Kerala


AYURVEDA• Kerala's equable climate, natural abundance of

medicinal resources, and the cool monsoon makes it the best place for curative and restorative packages using Ayurveda, a system of medicine developed around 600 BC in India.

• Kerala is the only state in India, which practices this system of medicine with absolute dedication.

• The monsoon atmosphere provides dust-free and cool environment, opening the pores of the body to the maximum, making it most receptive to herbal oils and therapy.

• This system of medicine gives attention on the prevention of body diseases in addition to curing them.

Conclusion

Kerala enjoys unique geographical features that have made it one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Asia... an equable

climate... A long shoreline with plantations and paddy fields... Kerala Ayurvedic health

holidays.... Enchanting art forms of Kerala.... Magical festivals of Kerala...

Kerala has a composite culture enriched through the ages with the contribution of various people and races. Its peculiar geographical position has

helped the process of cultural synthesis.

By Neptune Planet


Kerala ; God's Own Country !!

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Transcript of Kerala ; God's Own Country !!