Cherthala

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Cherthala, formerly known as Shertallai, is a town, in Kerala, India, which is almost 36km from Cochin and 22 km before Alleppey on the Cochin-to-Alleppey section of National Highway 47 Road Route and Railway Route. Cherthala is in Alleppey District, of which Alleppey is the district headquarters. Cherthala is a Major Taluk consisting of many small towns and several villages of which Cherthala is the Taluk headquarters.

According to the folklore, once a namboodiri(the priestly class) was travelling through the present day cherthala when he found the idol of the 'Devi'(The mother Godess) in a pond. The idol was found with its head immersed in mud. The priest took out the idol and established a temple at the loaction which is the present day Karthiyayani temple. The place is said to have got its name from this incident.Cher - Thala cher means mud and thala means head in malayalam.

There is another story which say that the former name was kadppuram and this part of land was gifted by the state of Cochin to the State of Travancore for protecting it from enemies. The place got its name as Chertha (joined) Thala(abutting land).

One can travel to the Town by train commuting through the Cochin-to-Alleppey rail route. The four-lane NH 47 runs through the town. The Cherthala town can be reached by road from Cochin or from Vaikom(15 kms) or from Kottayam(30 kms) as well as from Alleppey. Thus it acts as the easy meeting point from the neighbouring towns. The nearest airport is the Cochin International Airport about 50 kilometers north east and the nearest seaport is Cochin Harbour about 36 kilometers north west of the town.The famous vembanadu back waters flows along this beautifull town. The international tourist destination Kumarakom is only a 10 kms ride from here.

The main industry here is the Coir industry. Famous people from here include former Chief Minister of Kerala A. K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi, the present Cabinet Minister and the famous poet Vayalar Rama Varma.

The Ancient Karthiyayini Devi Temple is in the center of the town around which the town has developed. The major atraction of this temple is the annual pooram. The Artunkal church near Cherthala is a famous pilgrimage center. The vayalar martyr's memorial, various hi-tech designer coir manufacturing units are landmarks of this small town.

Sources

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