Karathur

Karathur is a village in Tirunavaya grama panchayath of Malappuram district, Kerala. It is a suburban of Tirur town which situates 8 kilometers away. History of Karathur is interwined with Codacal, a neighborhood village and Vettathunadu, an erstwhile kingdom of Tanur. Karathur has witnessed many incidents during Malabar Rebellion in 1921 and incidents related with land acquisition process to establish Codacal Tile Factory. It is believed that Karathur and neighboring areas were under the ownership of Edamana Neelakandan Namboothiri, a landlord of Tirur before taking over by Missionaries.

Karathur and areas between Tirunavaya and Pattarnadakkavu were the adobe of Nayadis, a tribal community in Vettathunadu, until most of them were converted into Christianity. After the conversion, they were more exposed to mainstream of society. Still Codacal and neighboring areas have significant amount of Christian community who are native which is a rare sight that most of the Christians in Malappuram are immigrants from Central Travancore region in 1940’s.

Karathur is a predominantly a Muslim majority area where all three religions co-exist in harmony. Well known Hanumankavu temple is situated in Karathur. Karathur is in a belt of Hindu pilgrims tourism circuit where exists many temples of state and national importance. Pulloonikavu Bhagavathi Temple, Garudankavu Temple, Thrikandiyoor Temple, Vairamkode Bhagavathi Temple, Hanuman Temple, Tripangode Shiva Temple, Tirunavaya Navamukunda Temple and Chamravattom Ayyappan Temple, all of which are within a radius of 10 kilometres from Karathur town.

Hanumankavu Temple

Hanumankavu Temple is a historic Hindu temple in Tirur, Malappuram. This temple, which is associated with Ramayana, attracts many devotees from inside and outside Kerala. It is believed that temple has a history of more than 3000 years and Hanuman, a vanara companion of Rama, jumped and flew to Srilanka in search of Sveta Devi from here. It was once a major temple in Vettathunadu kingdom. Temple has deities of Lord Rama and Hanuman inside and Lakshmana outside of the temple. Hanuman’s head is tilted slightly to the left in a way of listening to the words of Lord Rama.In Lanka, it is believed that Rama was giving the sutra to find Goddess Sita.

Alathiyur Hanumankavu Temple is gaining more popularity in India and even outside of the country. Former Tamilnadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa, former Union minister P. Chidambaram and former Srilankan Prime Minister Renil Vikramasinghe are among the notables who visited here.

Both Palpayasam and Avil (kneaded beaten rice) are offered to Rama and Hanuman as nivedyam respectively. Many devotees come here to ease their purposes and to remove obstacles for foreign trips.