Parassala

Parassala
പാറശ്ശാല
Town and village
Parassala

Location in Kerala, India

Coordinates: 8°26′26″N 77°02′37″E / 8.440450°N 77.043685°ECoordinates: 8°26′26″N 77°02′37″E / 8.440450°N 77.043685°E
Country  India
State Kerala
District Thiruvananthapuram
Population (2001)
 • Total 33,556
Languages
 • Official Malayalam, English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 695502
Telephone code 0471-220
Vehicle registration KL-19
Nearest city Thiruvananthapuram
Lok Sabha constituency Thiruvananthapuram
Climate moderate climate (Köppen)

Parassala is a small but busy town in India, at the southern end of Kerala, bordering Tamil Nadu. Thus, both Malayalam and Tamil are spoken by the residents. This is south most place of Kerala

Parassala Town

The name of Parassala became more popular after the rise of Prof. Parassala B. Ponnammal, an elderly woman who was the first female singer in the famous Navarathri Mandapam of Thiruvananthapuram during 2006 .

A large proportion of the population are involved in the collecting of palmyra nectar and fermenting to produce alcoholic drinks. The typical nectar collected on pots from atop palmyra trees are also used for making 'karupatti' which is known for its medicinal properties and is what the town is mostly known for.

Banking facilities are available, the main Banks are Federal Bank, SBI, SBT, South Indian Bank, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India and KSFE, Muthoot Fincorp, Muthoot Finance, Mini Muthoot.

A railway station, telephone exchange, bus depot give a good image to

Health

A number of multi-specialist hospitals such as SP Multispeciality and Saraswathy Multispeciality Hospital. Then a government Taluk hospital,a government Sidha hospital,a government Ayurvedha hospital,a government Vetenary hospital, a government homeo dispensary have given drastic change to the rustic image of this old town. The panchayat also holds a Medical College at Karakonam. [1]

Education

Prominent educational institutions in Parassala are Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Evans Higher Secondary School, Teachers Training Institute, Government Women ITI, Sree Krishna pharmacy college. These are the few that reap good results in public examinations.

State Government Offices

Theatres And Auditoriums

Mahadeva,Swathy,Santhosh,Jayamahesh,Sheela are the major auditorium in parassala. Sree Kaleeswary,Sree Saraswathy,Thameens Maxx,IMP are the movie theatres comes under parassala panchayat. Sree Kaleeswary and Sree Saraswathy are one of the 3D platinum movie theatre in kerala.

People

People are extremely industrious and innovative. Due to the confluence of two cultures Tamil and Malayalam, people have a broad sense of appreciation for arts and culture. Most of the people are bilingual - Tamil and Malayalam.

Politics

Parassala assembly constituency is part of Trivandrum (Lok Sabha constituency).[2] The former Deputy Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, Sundaran Nadar, came from Parassala. Currently the Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly from Parassala Mr A T GEORGE belongs to the Congress front. T.K Sarojini is the current Panchayath president.

Religion

Parassala Sree Mahadeva temple is one of the foremost centres of worship in south Kerala and the temple is situated at the tiny village of Parassala adjoining the Kerala Tamil Nadu boundary. Here the deity, Lord Siva is facing the west, which is considered as a rare phenomenon, and devotees even from far off places attend the worship. It was built by Mallen Chembakaraman Delava of Venad royal family.

The temple is centuries old and the structure is rare stone architecture and Parvathy devi and Vighneswara are the upadevathas. The temple is famous for its rare rites and ceremonies and from time immemorial entry was allowed to all sects in the community irrespective of caste or creed and significantly arayas - a backward community have the privilege of participation for the commencement of important rituals in the temple from ancient times onwards and the Lord render blessings to all irrespective of caste, colour or creed. Parassala, the holy place is well known for communal harmony. Elankam Bhuvaneswary temple is the another religious attraction in parassala.

Abbs Memorial Church

Many Christian worship places are there in Parassala and around. That includes a good number of RC (Roman Catholic), ECI, CSI and Lutheran Churches. Assemblies of God is one of the largest churches in Kerala by the number of worshipers. Spiritual Fire Fest Worship Center which is located at Anchali Jn is one of the fastest growing Pentecostal worship centers in kerala .

There are also a good number of Muslim brothers in this constituency, which depicts the communal harmony of the place.

There is the famous Christian Church in Parassala, Abbs Memorial Church, built between in the 1850s by the English missionary Rev. John Abbs. The church choir is called "Abbs Echoes" with their main vision stated as "To produce the echoes of The Great Missionary Abbs"

Jehovah's Witnesses have been active in this area since 1975. They visit the village house to house to spread their religious message.

Southern Kurisumala is the location of a famous Christian pilgrim location, which is not only visited by Christians, but by other religion people also.

Parassala is famous for the HARE KRISHNA temple located in Neduvanvila, which is part of International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parassala.
  1. ↑ http://www.drsmcsimchk.org/
  2. ↑ "Assembly Constituencies - Corresponding Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies". Kerala. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-10-21.