| Melarcode | |
| — town — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Kerala |
| District(s) | Palakkad |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Melarcode is a small village in Palakkad district of Kerala state, south India. It is under Alathur Taluk in Palakkad district of Kerala state, India.
Melarcode has a mixed population - predominantly Hindu, but a sizeable number of Christians and Muslims as well.
Melarcode has three Brahmin Agraharams - Chattuvacode, South Village, East Village & North Village. The first three are contiguous and have all their temple festivals together. There is a Mahaganapathy temple and a Thrippalurappan (Siva) temple. Vadakkegramam is a kilometer away from the other agraharams and has its own Ganapathy temple. There are only a few Brahmin families left in Melarcode now, as many of them shifted base after the agrarian reforms in the late 50's by the first Communist Government in Kerala, which resulted in their losing their landholdings as they were absentee landlords.
Nairs are concentrated in Thekkethara and Vadakkethara and Ezhuvas in Makkapparambu. The Muslim's hamlet is Cheenikkode and Christian concentration in Kambolam. Incidentally Kambolam is one of the earliest Roman Catholic settlements in the Palakkad district.
There is a Higher Elementary school and a couple of primary schools.
Melarcode Vela Kallambad Vela and chittilamcherry vela are the important annual festivals here. Sivarathri, Thiruvathira, Navarathri etc. are celebrated in the temples.
Prominent personalities are MN Ramaswamy Iyer, founder of Melarcode Bank, MN Venkata Subramania Iyer, who started MNKM High School in Chittilamcherry and also co-founded Narasimha bank.
Places around Melarcode are Kottekulam, which has a small pond surrounded by the main bus stop here. Nemmara is another taluk 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from here. There is a Thazhekottu Bhagavathy (Goddess) temple, flanked by a small pond. The pond is used by Melarcode residents for many purposes. Bathing, poojas are conducted here. Other religious places includes a St. Anthony's church centered around a Christian settlement.This church has got history of 175 years.The Christian community here has a very rich tradition. Melargod (Kampolam, padijare angadi & kishake anghadi) is one of the first places in Palakkad district which showed a Christian presence. The Syrian Catholic history of the district started with the appearance of a few families in the areas around Melarkode from various regions of Thrissur district, especially from "Kakkathurithi" "Pathiyur" etc and some families like Parthiyan-mar, Kutikad, Chitilapally, Majhaly, Chovallur ect. are Nampothiri "illam" names , . It is popularly believed that it happened about five centuries ago . That was the beginning of the Christian community of Melargod. For a long time they depended on Trissur pazhaya suriyani pally which was 35 kilometers away, for their spiritual needs. Later they made St. Anthony,s church with the help of a German missionary on 1853, the only church owned by disciples of Melargod which is not under any Bishop at that time ,the famous Pindi-perunal and fest of st. Sebastian are the mane ceremony . Until 1900 Melarkode was under Thrissur Vicariate. From 1901 to 1955, the services at Melarkode church had been led by Latin rite priests from Coimbatore diocese. In 1955, owing to the attempts made by Rev Fr Louis Chittilappally of Thrissur diocese, Melarkode once again came under Thrissur diocese. The vicar of Melarkode vicar had been Rev Fr Sebastian Murikkithara. When it once again came under the Thrissur diocese Mon. Zacharias Vazhappally was appointed as the Charge de Affairs.