Pathanmthita Fairvalue
Pathanamthitta District is one the fourteen districts in Kerala State. The district headquarters is at Pathanamthitta town. It was formed by carving out from Alleppey, Quilon and Idukki Districts and came into existence as a separate administrative unit on 1 November 1982. Pathanamthitta district name is a combination of two words Pathanam and Thitta which mean an array of houses on the river side. It covers almost 2642 square kilometers. The district is bounded by Kottayam and Idukki Districts on the north, Kollam District on the south, Alappuzha District on the west and Tamil Nadu state on the east. It is surrounded by many taluks such as Changanassery, Kanjirappally, Peerumade, Kunnathur, Pathanapuram, Kottarakkara, Chengannur, Mavelikkara and Kuttanad. It is considered as the thirteenth revenue district of the state. It consists of six taluks, 4 municipalities, 53 Grama Panchayats and 70 villages. The four Municipalities are Adoor Municipality, Pathanamthitta Municipality, Thiruvalla Municipality and Pandalam Municipality.
Pre-history of this district
The history of the District is sandwiched between the history of erstwhile Quilon and Alleppey Districts. Almost many portions of this district where Quilon District formed a part of Ay Kingdom, during the First Century A.D. The headquarters of Ay Kingdom, formerly of Alleppey District, was located at South Travancore. This district abounds with natural splendors like undulating hills, dark mysterious forests, exotic wildlife and enchanting valleys.
The pre-historic period of the district is obscure. The present district was formerly under the Pandalam reign which had connections with the Pandya Kingdom. Some old relics are found in some areas of Thiruvalla and Kadapra. There are many archaeological antiquities in the form of architecture, inscriptions, mural paintings, historical monuments are found in the temples, rock-cut caves, churches, etc. The earliest specimen of stone sculpture in the Kaviyoor Cave Temple of Pallava style of architecture was supposed to be made between the 7th and 9th Century AD.
During the middle of the First Century, the Christianity had a strong foothold in the district. St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ who landed at Malankara founded seven churches in Malabar Coast in 52 AD, one of the churches was located at Niranam. There are some records assigned to the post-Portuguese period in the Orthodox Syrian Church at Niranam. In the 9th Century AD, the district had flourished in the field of culture and literature.
During the period of Pandalam Raja
During 1812 AD, Pandalam was annexed to Travancore. The palace of Pandalam Raja was closely associated with Sabarimala Temple and believed that Sree Ayyappan was brought to the palace. Till now, the ornaments of Sabarimala Temple are kept in this palace. At the same time during 19th century, during the reign of Balarama Varma, Velu Thampi Dalaya took interest in uplifting Quilon as an administrative and commercial centre. It organized a rebellion at Quilon against the British force.
Famous and important leaders
Niranam, the famous poets who had made great contributions to Malayalam literature belonged to this district. The contribution of Elanthoor K.Kumar, Thadiyal Raghavan Pillai, Pandalam KP and N.G.Chacko towards the National Movement has much significance in the history of freedom struggle. Many Congress leaders like Ponnara Sreedhar and K.Kumar, the participants from Kerala in the flag Satyagraha at Nagpur were arrested and beaten up by the police.
National Freedom Movement
As part of the freedom movement, the district can be proud of its rich contribution. In 1937, Mahatma Gandhi who visited Travancore and he asked his follower Khadar Dar T.P.Gopala Pillai to spread the message of Khadi and Charka. In 1941, inspired by Gandhiji, he founded the ‘Mahatma Khadi Ashram’ at Elanthoor.
After independence, Travancore and Cochin States were integrated and the Maharaja of Travancore became Rajpramukh of Travancore-Cochin State on 1 July 1949. The position continued till the formation of Kerala State on 1 November 1956, as per the States Reorganization Act, 1956.