GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

2. KERALA
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

3. KERALA
• Formed on 1st November 1956
• Capital of Kerala is Thiruvananthapuram
• Language spoken is Malayalam
• Kerala consists of 14 districts
• 44 rivers
• A vast network of lakes
• 1500 Km’s of labyrinthine canals
• Population is 33,387,677

5. Why Is Kerala Called God’s
Own Country ?
According to Hindu mythology, Kerala was created by Lord Parasuramsaa,
an incarnation of Lord Vishnu by throwing his axe across the sea to create
new land for his devotees to live peacefully.
Every nook and corner in Kerala you will see Hindu temples, Muslim
mosques and Christian Churches; and unlike many other parts of India,
people live happily without communal riots and great religious tolerance.
Nestled between the pristine waters of the Arabian sea on the west and the
lush Western Ghats mountains on the east, its intense network of rivers and
lagoons, thick forests, exotic wildlife, tranquil stretches of emerald
backwaters and a long shoreline of serene beaches make it a traveler's
paradise.
Hence Kerala Is Known As God’s Own Country.

6. Parasurama, surrounded by settlers, commanding Varuna to part the
seas and reveal Kerala.

7. Location
• Located on the south-west region of India on
the Malabar coast.
• At 8.5074' North - East-76. 972’
• Adjacent to Arabian sea in the west, Tamilnadu in
the east-south, Karnataka in north and north-east.
• Area = 38,863 Sq. Km.

9. CLIMATE
Climate data for Kerala
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average
high °C
28 30 31 32 34 34 30 29 29 30 30 31 34
Average
low °C
22 23 24 25 25 24 23 23 23 23 23 22 22

10. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

11. Districts
Kerala has 14 districts.
North Kerala: Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode
and Malappuram.
Central Kerala: Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulum and Idukki.
South Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha,
Pathanamthitta and Kottayam.

12. Backwater symphony

13. Religion
Hindus: 56%
Muslims: 24%
Christians: 19%
Others (Sikhs, Jainism, Buddhism, Jainism): 1%

14. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

15. Flora and fauna
Over 4,000 species of flowering plant .
Over 900 species of medicinal plants .
Over 300 species of birds .
Over 202 species of freshwater fishes .
Over169 species of reptiles .
Over 89 species of amphibians .
Over 1,000 species of trees .

16. State symbols of Kerala
Animal Indian elephant
Bird Great Hornbill
Fish Pearl Spot
Flower Golden Shower Tree Flower
Tree Coconut tree

18. Government and Administration
• Democratically elected body the governs state of Kerala 5
years.
• 140 constituency Assembly.
• Present Governor is Hansraj Bhardwaj.
• Present CM is Oommen Chandy.
• High court situates in Ernakulum.
• Current chief justice is Manjula Chellar.
• Two major political alliances:
United Democratic Front (UDF)
Indian National Congress (INC)
Left Democratic Front (LDF)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))

19. The Kerala Legislative Assembly Building
in Thiruvananthapuram

20. Education
Literacy is 93.91% which is the Highest in India.
Medical Colleges : 5
Universities : 5

21. ECONOMY

22. AGRICULTURE
• Kerala produces 97% of National output of pepper
• Kerala produces 85% National output of rubber.
• The key crops : rice, coconut, tea, coffee, rubber,
cashews, pepper, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, and
nutmeg.
• Nearly half of Kerala’s population is engaged in
agriculture.

23. A scenic landscape, with water filled paddy fields.

24. FISHERIES
• 590 km of coastal belt.
• 400,000 hectares of inland water resources.
• about 220,000 active fishermen.
• Kerala is one of the leading producers of fish in India.
• about 1.1 million people earn their livelihood from fishing.
• contributes to about 3% of the total economy of the state.

25. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

26. Industries
• Large Scale Production: Steel, handloom, Handicraft
Khadi and Coir etc.
• Small Scale Production: Tea, cashews, pepper, Coffee
etc.
• Kalamassery and Kanjikode are the two main Industrial
areas.
• Techno Park, Info park and Kinfra were the IT cities.

27. KINFRA Industrial Park, Thalaserry

28. Culture

29. The culture of Kerala is composite and cosmopolitan in
nature and it's an integral part of Indian culture
• There are around 10,000 festivals celebrated in the
state.
• Important festival:
• Onam
• Temple Festival : Thrissur Pooram , Makaravilakku

30. Onam
• Onam is a harvest festival celebrated by the people of Kerala.
• The festival falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam (Aug–
Sep)
• marks the homecoming of the mythical King Mahabali .
• It is one of the festivals celebrated with most number of cultural
elements:
• Vallam Kali
• Pulikkali
• Pookkalam
• Onatthappan
• Thumbi Thullal
• Onavillu
• Kazhchakkula
• Onapottan
• Atthachamayam

31. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

32. Temple Festivals
• Kerala has a large number of Hindu temples.
• Some festivals include Poorams, the most famous of these being the Thrissur Pooram.
• Major Hindu temple festivals:
• Makaravilakku
• Thrissur Pooram
• Nenmara Vallangi Vela
• Attukal Pongala
• Vrishchikotsavam
• Ashtami
• Kodungalloor Bharani
• Chettikulangara Bharani
• Guruvayoor Anayottam
• Chottanikkara Makam
• Sivarathri festival
• Maradu Thalappoli .

33. SABARIMALA

34. DANCE
• Kerala is home to a number of performance arts.
• Five classical dance forms:
• Kathakali
• Mohiniyattam
• Koodiyattom
• Thullal
• Krishnanattam
• Christians traditional dance forms such as Margamkali,
Parichamuttu and Chavittu nadakom .
• Oppana and Duffmuttu are popular among the
Muslims of the state.

35. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

36. MUSIC
Kerala have rich collections of folk songs and
ballads associated with a variety of themes:
• Vadakkan Pattukal(northern Ballads)
• Thekkan Pattukal (Southern Ballads)
• Vanchi Pattukal (Boat Songs)
• Mappila Pattukal (Muslim Songs)
• Pallipattukal (Church Songs)

37. CINEMA
• Directors from Kerala, like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, John Abraham, P.
Padmarajan, G. Aravindan and Shaji N Karun have made a considerable
contribution to the Indian parallel cinema.
• Kerala has also given birth to numerous actors, such as Satyan, Bharath
Gopi, Prem Nazir, Mohanlal, Adoor
Bhasi, Jayan, Mamooty, Sreenivasan, Suresh
Gopi, Dileep, Jayaram, Murali, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Thilakan, Jagathy
Sreekumar and Nedumudi Venu.
• Late Malayalam actor Prem Nazir holds the world record for having acted
as the protagonist of over 720 movies.
• Since the 1980s, actors Mammootty and Mohanlal have dominated the
movie industry.
• Malayalam Cinema has produced a few more notable personalities such
as K.J. Yesudas, K.S. Chitra, Vayalar Rama Varma, M.T. Vasudevan
Nair, and O.N.V. Kurup.
• Also there many yputh icons in Malayalam film industries: Fahad Faasil
,Dulquer Salmaan ,Asif Ali ,Nazriya Nazim ,Sanusha etc.

38. Kerala GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

39. LITERATURE
• Malayalam literature starts from the late medieval period
• 14th-century Niranam poets :Madhava Panikkar, Sankara Panikkar and
Rama Panikkar .
• 17th-century poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, whose works mark the
dawn of both modern Malayalam language and poetry.
• Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar and Kerala Varma Valiakoi
Thampuran are noted for their contribution to Malayalam prose.
• Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon, and Ulloor S. Parameswara
Iyer, are recognised for moving Keralite poetry away from archaic
sophistry and metaphysics, and towards a more lyrical mode.
• In the second half of the 20th century, Jnanpith winning poets and writers
like G. Sankara Kurup, S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, M.
T. Vasudevan Nairand O. N. V. Kurup had made valuable contributions to
the modern Malayalam literature.
• Later, writers like O. V. Vijayan, Kamaladas, M. Mukundan, Arundhati
Roy, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, had gained international recognition.

40. Indulekha, the first major novel in Malayalam
,written by O Chandu Menon

41. Cuisine
• Food in Kerala is light, fresh and easy to eat.
• The main food items are rice, coconut and vegetables, apart from fish.
• Food is traditionally eaten by the hand and served on a banana leaf.
• Another interesting feature is the abundant use of coconut oil, chilli,
mustard seeds, curry leaves, and coconut milk.
• Breakfast : idli, puttu, Idiyappam, or pulse-based vada or tapioca
• Lunch dishes : rice and curry along with rasam, pulisherry and sambar.
• Sadhya is a vegetarian meal, that is served on a banana leaf and
followed with a cup of payasam. A normal Sadhya can have about 24-28
dishes served as a single course.
• Popular snacks: banana chips, yam crisps, tapioca
chips, unniyappam and kuzhalappam.
• Sea food : karimeen, prawn, shrimp and other crustacean dishes.

42. Kerala GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

43. Sports
• Kalaripayattu, regarded as "the mother of all
martial arts in the world", as an exception was
practiced as indigenous martial sport.
• Another traditional sport of Kerala is the boat race,
especially the race of Snake boats.

45. Tourism
• Its culture and traditions, coupled with its
varied demographics, have made Kerala one of the
most popular tourist destinations in India.
• National Geographic's Travelers magazine names
Kerala as one of the "Ten Paradises Of The World”
• Kerala is Established Tourist place for Indians and
non-Indians.
• The important tourist places were is Kovalam, Cherai,
kappad, Bepur Beaches.
• Hill stations were Munnar, Thekkadi, Nelliyampathy,
Wayanad.
• Cochin, Alappuzha, AthirappImally falls were also the
Important tourist places.

46. An estuary in Paravur, Kollam Varkala beach
Munnar, a hill station and a hamlet
in Kerala
The stone sculpture of Kuruvan and
Kuruvati at Ramakkalmedu in Kerala
Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

47. AYURVEDA
• Kerala's equable climate, natural abundance of
medicinal resources, and the cool monsoon makes it
the best place for curative and restorative packages
using Ayurveda, a system of medicine developed
around 600 BC in India.
• Kerala is the only state in India, which practices this
system of medicine with absolute dedication.
• The monsoon atmosphere provides dust-free and cool
environment, opening the pores of the body to the
maximum, making it most receptive to herbal oils and
therapy.
• This system of medicine gives attention on the
prevention of body diseases in addition to curing them.

48. Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

49. Conclusion
Kerala enjoys unique geographical features that
have made it one of the most sought after tourist
destinations in Asia... an equable climate... A long
shoreline with plantations and paddy fields... Kerala
Ayurvedic health holidays.... Enchanting art forms of
Kerala.... Magical festivals of Kerala...
Kerala has a composite culture enriched through the
ages with the contribution of various people and
races. Its peculiar geographical position has helped
the process of cultural synthesis.

50. By Neptune Planet
Kerala
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY