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History of Thrissur

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History of Thrissur

Thrissur is the administrative capital of Thrissur District, in the central part of Kerala state, India. Thrissur district was formed on 1 July 1949. It is an important cultural centre, and is known as the Cultural Capital of Kerala. It is famous for the Thrissur Pooram festival, one of the most colourful and spectacular temple festival of Kerala. From ancient times, Thrissur has been politically, economically and culturally significant to the Indian subcontinent. It has opened the gates for Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch and English. According to tradition, Thrissur is where Christianity, Islam and Judaism entered the Indian subcontinent. Local Christian tradition holds that Thomas the Apostle arrived in 52 CE, and Muslim tradition states that Methala is the location of country's first mosque.

Starting from the Stone Age, Thrissur must have been the site of human settlement. This is evidenced by the presence of a megalithic monuments at Ramavarmapuram, Kuttoor, Cherur and Villadam. The Ramavarmapuram monument is in granite and is of Menhir type. The monument in Ramavarmapuram is 15 feet height and 12 feet 4 inches broad. From 1944, it is under the protection of Department of Archaeology. The monument is locally known as 'Padakkallu' or 'Pulachikkallu'. These menhirs are memorials for the departed souls put up at burial sites. They belong to the Megalithic Age of Kerala, which is roughly estimated between 1000 BCE and 500 CE. All such monuments have not been dated exactly. Some experts are of the view that these are the remnants of the Neolithic Age in the development of human technology. The Ramavarmapuram Menhir is also believed to be a monument belonging to the Sangam period in the South Indian history.

Other monolithic monuments like dolmens and rock-cut caves are at Porkulam, Chiramanengad, Eyyal, Kattakambal and Kakkad. The monument excavated under Archaeologist BK Thapar, between 1949 and 1950, was under the Department of Archaeology. Another megalithic monument is situated at Ariyannur in Thrissur.

Muziris (1st century BCE), is a lost port city in Kodungallur and was a major center of trade in Kerala between the Chera Empire and the Roman Empire. Muziris (Cranganore) was destroyed by massive flooding of the river Periyar in 1341, opening a new port called Kochi. Muziris was also known as Mahodayapuram, Shinkli, Muchiri (anglicised to Muziris) and Muyirikkodu. It is known as 'Vanchi' to locals. Muziris opened the gates for Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch and English to Indian sub continent and South East Asia. It was famous as a major port for trade and commerce for more than 2,500 years.

There has always been a lot of confusion about the exact location of the port, as also about other aspects of it. For long it was considered to be Kodungalloor. However, in 1983, a large hoard of Roman coins was found at a site around 10 km from a place called Pattanam, some distance away from Kodungalloor. Excavations carried out from 2004 to 2009 at Pattanam has revealed evidence that may point out the exact position of Muziris.

This suggests that Muziris was a port of great international fame and that South India was involved in active trade with several civilizations of West Asia, the Near East and Europe with the port as a means to do so.

While there is a consensus on that both the port and the city ceased to exist around the middle of the 13th century, possibly following an earthquake (or the great flood of 1341 recorded in history, which caused the change of course of Periyar river), there does not seem to be clear evidence as to when the port might have first come into being. Presently, researchers seem to be agreed on that the port was already a bustling center of trade by 500 BCE, and there is some evidence that suggests that Muziris was a city, even if not certainly a port as well, from before 1500 BCE.

It is called 'Murachipatanam' in Sanskrit and Muchiri in Tamil. Later it was also called as Makothai, Mahodayapuram, Mahodayapattanam. The port was familiar to the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea who described it as being situated on Pseudostomos river (Ψευδόστομος: Greek for "false mouth" – a precise translation of the Malayalam description of the mouth of the Periyar, Alimukam) 3 km from its mouth. According to the Periplus, numerous Greek seamen managed an intense trade with Muziris:

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