Mattakkara

Mattakkara
—  village  —
Mattakkara Location of Mattakkara in Kerala and India
Coordinates	9°23′N 76°23′E / 9.38°N 76.38°E / 9.38; 76.38Coordinates: 9°23′N 76°23′E / 9.38°N 76.38°E / 9.38; 76.38
Country	India
State	Kerala
District(s)	Kottayam
Population	10,725 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 3 metres (9.8 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 686564 • Telephone • +91-481
Website	www.mattakkara.com

Mattakkara (in Malayalam: മറ്റക്കര ) is a part of Kottayam District. The area is mainly spread in Akalakunnam Panchayath. This is considered as the biggest kara (land)in Kerala. The place is accessible by road. It is about 20 KM from Kottayam and 15 KM from Palai.

Subdivisions

Mattakkara itself is split into 11 different main smaller areas.

1. Mannoor
2. Manal
3. Vadakkedam
4. Manjamatam
5. Chuvannaplavu
6. Nellikunnu
7. Karimpany
8. Pattyalimattam
9. Cheppumpara
10. Moozhoor
11. Paduva

Demographics

Pannagam Thodu

It is a beautiful place divided by Pannagam Thodu stream. The pannagam stream got its name, since it flows in a shape of snake (pannagam). The main faiths of Mattakkara are Christianity and Hinduism. People speak Malayalam in their own slang. More than 98% of them are literate.

Most of the people are farmers. The main cultivation is rubber. You can find pepper, paddy, banana, coffee, tapioca and coconut trees like any other place of Kerala in Mattakkara.

Manal Junction

Education

There are many schools like MATTAKKARA HS run by NSS as well as St. Joseph H.S, Manjamattam to name a few. The Government of Kerala has put up a Polytechnic here under the aegies of MODEL POLY TECHNIC MATTAKKARA - IHRDE to provide technical Education to the rural masses. The Model Polytechnic started functioning in 1995. The Hugely Successful AMIE Engineering Technology Institute, VISVESWARAYA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY is situated here.

Flora and fauna

All places consist of wet evergreen plants. Hard working farmers of this place play an important role to make this happen. You can't even see an inch of land without plants. The main vegetation occurs due to rubber plantations which cover 50% of the area. Coconut trees, Coco, Bamboo and other plants can be found here.

The Pannagam river which flows almost around the year also keeps this vegetation.

Notable residents

• Chitra K. Soman (born 10 July 1983) - an Indian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. Chitra finished seventh in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics, together with teammates Satti Geetha, K. M. Beenamol and Rajwinder Kaur. This team, only with Manjeet Kaur running instead of Geetha, had set a national record of 3:26.89 minutes in the heat. Soman also ran for the Indian team who won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best time in 400 m is 51.30 seconds, achieved in June 2004 in Chennai.
• Kalanilayam Sinu - kathakali singer and composer. His masterpiece work is the Christian devotional album, Koodaram.

Religion

Place of worship in Mattakkara include:

• Holy Family Church Mattakkara
• Sree Bhaghavathi Temple Thuruthipalli Mattakkara
• Aiyroor MahaDeva Temple Pattiyakimattom
• Alphonsagiri Church Nellikunnu
• Blessed Sacrament Church Karimpany
• St. Sebastian's Church Manjamattam
• St. George's Church Mannoor
• Kuttiyanickal dharma shastra temple, Manal

Banks

• State Bank of Travancore
• Holy Family Church Buildings, Vadakkedam, Mattakkara
• Akalakunnam Service Co-operative Bank