INDIA
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There are about 26 million Christians in India (1999). One of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, St. Thomas, reached in India (Kerala) in 52 A.D. only 20 years after Christ was crucified. He settled in Malabar and then expanded his missionary work to China. He was martyred in Tamil Nadu on his return to India in 72 A.D and was buried in Mylapore near Madras. |
KERALA
General Profile
Located in Southern Part of India, Kerala is bounded by high western Ghats on the east and the Arabian sea on the west. According to the geographical features, the State can be divided into hills and valleys, midland plains and coastal belts.
Capital Thiruvanthapuram
Area 38863 Sq. Km
Population (1997) 29,698,518
Density(persons per sq.km.) 765
Principal Languages Malayalam
Urbanisation Ratio (1991) 26.31%
Literacy Rate 93%
Per Capita State Income at Current Prices (Rs.) (1997-98) Rs. 11936
Net State domestic Product at current Prices (1997-98) Rs.380.02 bln
Number of Districts 14
Growth Rate (per cent) 1981-91 13.98
Urban Population 26.31%
SexRatio(females per 1000 males) 1040
Name of the District Area ( sq.km) Population(000) District Headquarter
Thiruvananthapuram 2,195 2938 Thiruvananthapuram
Kollam 2,579 2398 Kollam
Alappuzha 1,256 1990 Alappuzha
Pathanamthitta 2,731 1186 Pathanamthitta
Kottayam 2,204 1819 Kottayam
Idukki 5,448 1251 Pinav
Ernakulam 10,852 2178 Kochi
Thrissur 3,032 2734 Thrissur
Palakkad 4,480 2376 Palakkad
Malappuram 3,548 3093 Malappuram
Kozhikode 2,345 2612 Kozhikode
Wyanad 2,132 671 Kalpetta
Kannur 2,997 2244 Kannur
Kasargod 1,961 1070 Kasargod
Physiography
Kerala may be divided into 3 geographical regions: 1) Highlands, 2) Midlands and 3) Lowlands. The highlands slope down from the Western Ghats which rise to an average height of 900 m, with a number of peaks well over 1,800 m in height. This is the area of major plantations like tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom and other spices.
The midlands, lying between the mountains and the lowlands, are made up of undulating hills and valleys. This is an area of intensive cultivation. Cashew, coconut, cassava (tapioca), banana, rice, ginger, pepper, sugar-cane and vegetables of different varieties are grown in this area.
The lowlands or the coastal area, which is made up of the river deltas, backwaters and shore of Arabian sea, is essentially a land of coconuts and rice. Fisheries and coir industry constitute the major industries of this area.
Kerala is a land of rivers and backwaters. Forty-four rivers (41 west-flowing and 3 east-flowing) cut across Kerala with their innumerable tributaries and branches but these rivers are comparatively small and being entirely monsoon-fed, practically turn into rivulets in summer, especially in the upper areas.
History
When India became free, three administrations ruled this region-two princely states, Travancore and Cochin, and Malabar which was under the direct administration of the British. One of the first steps taken by independent India was to amalgamate small states together so as to make them viable administrative units. Accordingly Travancore and Cochin states were integrated to form Travancore-Cochin State on 1st July, 1949. However, Malabar remained as part of the Madras Province. Under the States Re-organization Act of 1956, Travancore-Cochin State and Malabar were united to form the State of Kerala on 1st November, 1956. Some territorial adjustments had necessarily to be made on re-organization. In this adjustment, Kerala lost to Madras (now Tamil Nadu) the taluks of Thovala, Agasteeswaram, kalkulam and Vilavancode in the far south and Shencotta in the east, while it gained the Malabar district and the Kasargod taluk of South Kanara district in the north. The Laccadive Minicoy and Amindivi detached from Kerala and declared as Union Territory. Administration: The sate has unicameral legislature. The Legislative Assembly has 141 members.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of the State. 50 percent of the population depend upon Agriculture for their livelihood. The State is the major producer of Coconut, rubber, pepper, cardamom, ginger, gocoa, cashew, arecanut, coffee and tea.
Industry
The highest literate State of the country, Kerala has number of large, medium and small scale industrial units. Traditional industries co-exist with modern ones in the State.
Resources
The State has abundance of important minerals like limonite, rutile, monazite, zircon, sillimanite, clay and quarts sand.
Infrastructure
The State is well linked with road, rail, air and Sea port network. Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode are the important airports in the State.
Universities
Kerala University, Thiruvanathapuram ; Calicut University, Thenjippalam (Malapuram Dist.); Cochin University of science and technology, Kochi; Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam; Kerala Agl University, Thrissur; Sree Sandara Sanskrit University, Kaladi(Ernakulam Dist.); Kannur University, Kannur(set up in Nov.95 as Malabar University).
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KERALA is a mere frond of a state, long and narrow, green and fertile - 15,000 palm-sheltered square miles in southwest India, rimmed by mountains called the Western Ghats, washed by the Arabian Sea and laced by an idyllic tangle of lakes and streams known as the Backwaters.
Its people, known as Malayalees, call it "God's own country" or "the blessed land," not least because of its irresistible food.
For centuries, long before the steamship, long before the jet plane, venturesome traders rode the trade winds to Kerala. Romans, Phoenicians, Chinese, Arabs, Portuguese, Frenchmen, Dutchmen and Britons all came here, and so did Jewish merchants from Venice. St. Thomas the Apostle is said to have landed along this coast in A.D. 52, and Christopher Columbus was headed west in search of Kerala's fabled spices when he stumbled upon America.
Each group of outsiders brought along their own culinary traditions, and each adapted to their new circumstances. The Arabs contributed fennel and fenugreek. On their quest for black pepper, the Portuguese carried the cashews and chillies they had discovered in the New World, changing forever the way the subcontinent eats. The Jews clung to kosher dietary restrictions, but they added green chillies and coriander to their meals.
Blending all these influences with the abundant native |
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spices and coconut has yielded a light, bright and vividly varied cuisine, little known to the rest of the world and totally different from the hearty tandooris and creamy curries of arid northern India.
Unlike many Indians, Malayalees eat beef, but they eat a lot more seafood - shrimp and crab and all sorts of ocean fish, notably seer, a mackerel with mild, firm flesh that looks like a miniature tuna.
In modern Kerala, Hindus, Christians, Muslims and the few remaining Jews (most having left for Israel or other countries after World War II) all speak the same language, Malayalam, which has given the world the words teak and atoll.
So many Keralites have lived abroad (1.5 million of them are now in the Persian Gulf),
THE coconut palm is the mainstay of Malayalee life. Its leaves are used for thatch, its fibre for rope, its roots for firewood, its trunk for furniture. And in the Keralite kitchen, coconut flesh, oil, milk and vinegar are indispensable sources of both flavour and texture.
Kerala is a poor place with an annual gross domestic product per person of about $1,000, poor even by Indian standards, as poor as Cambodia and the Sudan. But it is also a striking example of poor people living well. The Malayalees' houses and clothing may be simple, but their life expectancy is 72 years, close to the American average; the infant mortality rate is low; and population is under control.
Most impressively, the school system is extensive, reaching into every village, and the literacy rate is a startling 90 percent, in the same high echelon as Singapore.
Syrian Christians - instantly recognizable by their biblical surnames, like Phillip, Thomas, Andrew, Peter and Paul - have shaped much that is distinctive about life in Kerala. Quarter of Kerala's 33 million people, the Syrian Christians are an energetic and ambitious group, entrepreneurial, philanthropic and devoted to higher education.
The chandelier-lit 16th-century synagogue in Jew Town, where only four families now worship, is even more poignant. |
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