Cherthala - Cherthala Town

Cherthala Town

Cherthala Town Municipality has 32 wards. The town is well known after the Karthyayani Devi temple, located in the center of the town. Two more sub-temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu are also located on the northern side of the main temple. A sub-temple dedicated to Lord, also known as Kaavudayan and another dedicated to Kshethrapalakan believed to be Devi's temple caretaker are located on the southern corner of the main temple. Thousands of devotees coming from different 'Karas' (localities) of Cherthala participate in the Padayani, vela thullal and pooram pattu, the main rituals conducted during the temple festival. A large pond exists in front of the Taluk office that belongs to the Karthyayani Devi temple. We can see many roosters flocking around the temple premises. These roosters are the offerings of the devotees, an ancient custom followed in many devi temples of Kerala. The temple is administered by Travancore Devaswom Board.

Another temple in Cherthala town is the Muttathu Thirumala Devaswam temple. Lord Narasimha presiding in the form of Saligrama and Sree Venkatachalapathy Moorthy with bhoo devi and sree devi are the deities of this temple. The temple conducts its annual festival either ahead of the Karthyayani Devi's festival or soon after that. The Pallivetta is a beautiful procession where it is believed that God is going for the divine hunting. The annual festival lasts for 8 days.

The Muttom St. Mary's church is located near the market. The Muttom church is also a Marian pilgrimage center. A silver flag mast (Kodimaram) in the church courtyard depicts its unique Kerala heritage found in many Syrian Catholic churches of Kerala.

Sree Mutharamman Kovil, Kambikkal junction, cherthala is another temple situated very near to the market. Goddess Mutharamma(bhadra) and annapoorneswary are the deities of this temple. The dhambathi sametha navagraha and Bala ganapathy are also in this temple.

The Shree Mahadeva temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is also located at east of the Muttom Church. The Moorthickal Sri Lakshminarayan temple and Peechi Amman Kovil are also located half a kilometer west of the Cherthala town. The Vellorvattom Shree Mahadeva temple having twin sreekovils, both dedicated to Shiva, is located one kilometer west of Cherthala town along the main road to Cherthala Railway Station. Famous Sri Dhanwanthari Temple is located at Maruthorvattom, 1.5 km south east of the Town, Half a km. east of X-Ray Bye pass and K.V.M. Superspeciality Hospital. Famous Kandamangalam sree Rajarajeshwari temple is just 5 km from cherthala town. This temple dedicated to goddess Rajarajeshwari attracts thousands of devotees. The annual festival in march-April attracts a lot of people from distant areas too.

Cherthala is a major centre of coir industry. There are big coir exporting factories located outside the town, few of them along the ]. The well-known politician and the Union Defence Minister A K Antony hails from Cherthala Town. The Union Cabinet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi, is also from Cherthala. Cherthala is well-connected by road and rail. The nearest airport is the Cochin International Airport, about 50 kilometers northwest, and the nearest seaport is Cochin Harbour about 36 kilometers northwest of the town. A memorial stands in front of the Taluk office, dedicated in the memory of various soldiers from Cherthala who took part in World War I& II. The office of Tahsildar is also located in the Taluk office complex. The Taluk office has a treasury, Land & Revenue department, Election commission's office. A Mini Civil station complex located behind Taluk office has various government departments under one roof. There is also the office of Deputy Supernatant of Police (DySP) near the Taluk office. The only fire station in Cherthala taluk functions round the clock next to Civil station. A large BSNL microwave tower functions near the BSNL telephone exchange used for high-speed data transfer and telephone communication. There is a court complex that houses the Magistrate court and Munsif courts. A busy bus stand and depot run by Kerala State RTC is situated on the east side of Devi temple. The Cherthala Municipality building and a shopping complex is situated near to this bus stand. A government guesthouse (Traveler's Bungalow) functions at the north end of Court junction. A man-made water canal flows across the town. It was constructed as an Inland waterway to link Cherthala town with Alappuzha prior to development of NH-47. The busy Cherthala market has the vegetable wholesale market and the municipal fish market located near the Muttom Church. A small chapel of Mother Mary is located in the market. There are few oil mills producing the coconut oil. Manorama Junction, Market road, Nadacavu road, Court Jn. (Kodathi kavala), KSRTC bus stand, Pvt bus stand, Apsara junction, Xray Jn., Iron Bridge, Bhavani theatre, civil station/ Taluk office, municipal shopping complex, X-Ray Junction, Girls' High School Junction are some of the locally known places in and around Cherthala town. Cherthala town has the potential for developing as the Satellite town of ever expanding Kochi metropolitan city.