Karthikappally is a village in Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala. Haripad is the headquarter of Karthikappally Taluk. The taluk office is located in the revenue tower Haripad. [1]
Karthikappally was once a Buddhist center. Between the years 904-933 King Marthanda Varma of Travancore added Karthikappally to Travancore. In 1742 and 1753 nearby places, namely Kayamkulam and Ambalapuzha, were added to the Karthikappally Natturajyam, making it a prominent region since then. The area between the now existing Purakkad and Kayamkulam was the once Karthikappally.[2]
What made Karthikappally important was the proximity of an inland waterway or a Thodu which enabled free flow of traffic and allowed Karthikappally to become a trading center. The market was huge and crowded, remains of the old market exist to this day.
The Karthikappally Panchayat was formed later. Shri. K Damodaran was its first man in place. In 1912, the Govt. School in Mahadevikadu was constructed followed by The Govt. L P School in memory of Divan Krishnan Nair.
St Thomas Orthodox Church (Kottakkakathu Old Syrian Church AD-829). is situated at the Karthikappally junction on the way to Thrikunappuzha. It is estimated that the church is more than 1200 years old. The exact year of construction is unknown. There are above 600 families in the parish.[citation needed]
Karthikappally St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral is one of the ancient churches in Kerala. The church, established some thousand years before, is at Harippad. Karthikappally church keeps an immense archive of the local history in about 621 palmyra-written records. The church became the centre of attraction recently as two lithograph records and the remnants suspected to be that of a metropolitan were unearthed from the church premises. The lithographic stones have been identified to be 300 years old.[citation needed]
Cheppad is about 44km north of Kollam on Kollam-Alappuzha National Highway 66. It has an Orthodox Syrian Christian Church dedicated to St. George built in 1300AD, a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Syrian Christians. The main portico and subsidiary porches are built after the traditional pattern of the porches of Hindu temple. The wood carvings in the porches and the mural paintings which depicts the great scenes of epic of Jesus Christ are unique and rare specimens. Mar Dionysius IV of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (often called the CheppadMetropolitan) is buried there. In 1956 Hailie Salassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia visited the church.
The wooden sculptures in the gopuram of Vettikkulangara Bhagavathy temple are famous.[citation needed]
Demographics
As of 2001[update] India census, Karthikappally had a population of 19,064 with 9,107 males and 9,957 females.[1]
Education
St Thomas High School (1919) one of the oldest in the area which opened as a high school which is affiliated to Kerala State Education Board.
Most private schools use English language as the medium of instruction whereas government run schools offer both English and Malayalam as a medium of instruction.
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