Mattanur

Traditional Kerala House with Ettukettu Architecture in Mattanur
Mattanur
മട്ടന്നൂര്‍
Mattannur
town
Mattanur

Location in Kerala, India

Coordinates: 11°55′52″N 75°34′19″E / 11.931°N 75.572°ECoordinates: 11°55′52″N 75°34′19″E / 11.931°N 75.572°E
Country  India
State Kerala
District Kannur
Government
 • Body Municipality
Area
 • Total 54.65 km2 (21.10 sq mi)
Languages
 • Official Malayalam, English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 670702

Mattanur, also spelt Mattannur, is a town and a municipality in the Kannur district, state of Kerala, India. Mattanur is around 25 km east of Kannur town and Thalassery. Pin code of Mattanur is 670702. [1]

Mattannur lies between Kannur, Thalassery and Iritty. The inter-state buses ply between Bangalore and Thalassery, Kannur passes through Mattanur. It is an important hub connecting Kodagu and Kannur. Though small, it has many attractions. The town has developed around the Mattanur Mahadeva temple. 15-Mattannur Assembly Constituency and its extent Mattanur Municicpality and Chittariparamba, Keezhallur, Koodali, Malur, Mangattidam, Kolayad, Padiyoor Kalliad and Thillenkeri Panchayats in Thalassery Taluk.

The proposed Kannur Airport is just about 5 km from Mattanur, which makes it the closest town to the Airport.

Attractions

The proposed Kannur International Airport is to be located at Moorkhanparamba, near Mattanur. Mattanur is a nature blessed beautiful place and Pazhassi Dam is a tourist attraction nearby with a well arranged garden and boating facilities. This dam also provides drinking water to Kannur, Tellichery and Mahe municipalities.

Mattanur is famous for its "Kavu" where ancient folk rituals called Theyyam are performed during the months of January to April.

Annual celebrations-Utsavam of Mattannur "Sree Mahadeva temple" starts from February 27 every year. The eight days festival end with the aaratu. "Chalayil mahavishnu kshetram" is a famous Vishnu temple situated in Mattanur is one of the rare temples for worshiping Narasimha avathara of lord Vishnu.

Another famous situated near Mattannur is "Perinchery Sree Vishnu Kshethram", for worshiping Lord Lakshmana. Annual celebrations-Eight days Utsavam starts on 'Uthratathi' day of every Kumbhamasam.

History

One of the eminent personalities from Mattanur was Pulleri Illathu Madhusoodanan Thangal from the pre-independent era. During the British rule, he represented the area in Madras Legislative Council. Sri. K T Madhavan Nambiar, a renowned freedom fighter, was the president of Mattanur Panchayat for 16 years till his death in 1972. During his tenure as the president, a lot of development took place in the area which includes new roads, electrification etc. The Government Hospital in Mattanur, which now caters to the health needs of thousands of poor people, was established during his tenure. He took initiative in setting up a Fruit Canning Unit in Kallur under Co-Operative Sector. After his death, the unit could not function for years and later was taken over by the Khadi Board and then by RAIDCO. This is one of the important industrial units in the area.

Some of the most important places in the locality are Illam Moola(Sasthapuram), Pariyaram, Thillenkeri, Muzhakkunnu, Uruvachal and Kallur. Puralimala is a historical place near Mattannur. Kottiyoor Mahadeva Khsetram is only one and half hours drive from Mattannur.

Pazhassi is one of the important place in Mattanur where Great King Pazhassiraja stayed and still some veera pazhassi generations are staying over there, His tharavad known as Pazhassi kooloth, which is located 5 kilometer from Mattanur.

The place Thillenkery is very beautiful and historical place near to mattanur.

Veera Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja- Painting by Raja Ravi Varma

Education

One of the important institutes in Mattanur is Pazhassi Raja NSS College. The college was established in 1964, founded by social reformer and great educationalist Padma Bhushan Mannathu Padmanabhan. The college now comes under Kannur University (earlier under the University of Calicut) and offers courses at graduate and post graduate levels. The alumni of the college include Sri. Patyam Srinivasan, a prized possession of Malayalam film industry. Film actor Sri. Jagadeesh was a lecturer in this college, before coming to the film world.

In and around, Mattanur has many government and private schools and private colleges. Mattanur Government Polytechnic college is one of the famous technical institutions which offer technical training.Mattanur Universal College is one of the famous Parallel College in Kannur District.

Mattannur having more than three CBSE-approved English medium schools. One of them is Sree Sankara Vidyapeetam, which was established by the Sree Mahadeva Temple trust.

Kallur New UP school is situated near Mattannur town. They are providing excellent learning atmosphere to their students. Mattanur Government UP School is situated in Mattanur Town. Mattannur is having a lot of artistic talent, social workers, and clubs. "Swathi kalakshethram" is one of the art academies situated in Mattannur and is co-ordinated by Babu Mattannur. Another is "Nadabhramam" under K E Sankaran Namboodiri.

More than three hospitals are there in Mattanur. Mattanur is an upcoming town in Kannur district on the background of airport, land price has shot up like anything with expectations of business opportunities to be brought in by the proposed Kannur Air Port. Pariyaram is one of the important places in the Mattanur Municipality, Pariyaram UP School being one among the important educational institution in Mattanur.The Poonkottum Kavu ( the forest land) also situated nearby Pariyaram.

Culture

Mattanur is famous for its players of the ethnic drum called chenda. Mattanur Panchavadya Sangham, which is a troupe that plays another classical percussion ensemble called Panchavadyam, also hails from this place. The most prominent among them are Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar and Kalanilayam Udayan Namboodiri. Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar is a famous thayambaka artist as well as panchavadya vidwan. He was Melapramani for the famous Thrissur Pooram. Famous Cine Actress and dancer, Ms.Anju Aravind is from Pazhassi, Mattannur.

Mattanur UP school is situated near Mattanur bus stand. This is one of the old educational institutions in Mattanur. Sevasram at Sasthapuram, the former Asram of Sreemad Swatmananda Saraswathi is emerging as the main center of social service of Mattannur city. It provides food for in patients on hartal days, pension for needed, job centers for mothers etc.; Offers Geetha class, Sat-sangam and so on.

Mattannur Mahadeva Temple

Kottiyoor Utsavam

Kottiyoor Vysakha Mahotsavam is a huge religious pilgrimage attracting thousands of pilgrims. It is a festival commemorating the Daksha yaga.

Sports

Mattannur is famous for its volleyball. Udaya Sports Club has contributed immensely to development of volleyball in the area and has produced players who represented Kerala state. Sri. C Narayanan Master, famous for his high spin serve and tactical smashes, could not make it to the state team - often selection of team is not always fair, but still respected by all in the locality as a great player. Sri. P K Jagannathan, Principal of SN College and International Volleyball Referee is a product of Udaya Club. PRNSS College Mattanur also used to be a power house in volleyball.Under the captaincy of Sri T P Abdul Razak- elder brother of Sri. Salim Ahmed the director and co-producer of the National Award winning film 'ADAMINTE MAKAN ABU', PRNSS College Team became the strongest team in Calicut University. Sri T P Abdul Razak led Calicut University to third place in All India University Volley Ball Championship.But, with the Police Maidan - the home ground of Mattannur Volley Ball made into Police Quarters, Volley ball in Mattanur met with premature death. Smt. Soumya Sadanandan, the former Indian Vanitha Volley Ball Captain is also from Mattanur.

Politics

Mattanur municipality is being ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) lead front from the time it was formed. Mr Bhaskaran Master is the current chairman of the Municipal Council. CPIM have strong presence in the entire municipality and the surrounding villages also

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[2] Mattannur had a population of 44,317. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Mattannur has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 79%. In Mattannur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mattanur.
  1. ↑ http://www.citypincode.in/KERALA/KANNUR/MATTANUR_PINCODE
  2. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.