Valanchery

Valanchery is a major town and one of the 12 municipalities in Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is one of the four municipalities in Tirur Taluk, besides Tirur, Kottakkal, and Tanur. It is situated about southeast to Karipur International Airport and southwards to the district headquarters, and forms a part of Malappuram metropolitan area. It is also one of the major commercial towns under the Malappuram urban agglomeration. Valanchery, which was a part of the erstwhile princely state of the Valluvanad in the early medieval period, had been under the direct control of the Zamorin of Calicut following the Tirunavaya war of 14th century CE. During British Raj, Valanchery was included in the Ponnani Taluk of erstwhile Malabar District. Vattapara accident zone is an accident zone near Valanchery. Valanchery is situated on National Highway 66. Valanchery was originally part of the Valluvanad Swaroopam dynasty in the early medieval period (12th century CE). Valluvanad was an erstwhile princely state in the present state of Kerala, that extended from the Bharathappuzha river in the South to the Panthaloor Mala in the North. On the west, it was bounded by the Arabian Sea at Ponnani and on the east by the Attappadi Hills during their zenith in the early Middle Ages. The capital of erstwhile Valluvanad was at the present-day town of Angadipuram. According to local legends, the last Cheraman Perumal ruler gave a vast extension of land in South Malabar during his journey to Mecca to one of their governors, Valluvakonathiri, and left for pilgrimage. Valluvanad was famous for the Mamankam festivals, held once in 12 years and the endless wars against the Samoothiri of Kozhikode. The region came under the direct control of the Kozhikode Samoothiris in 13th/14th century CE by the defeat of Valluvakonathiris in Tirunavaya War. Assisted by the warriors of their subordinate chiefs (Chaliyam, Beypore, Tanur and Kodungallur) and the Muslim naval fleet under the Koya of Kozhikode, the Samoothiri's fighters advanced by both land and sea.