Kallara is a small town in the

Kottayam district Kottayam (), is one of 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that neither borders the ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India.

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south-we ...

is located m south.

History

The name Kallara came from the word "kallukaludae Ara". The history of Kallara dates back to the first ever temple or devasthana called Pandavar Kulangara Sreekrishna Swamy Kshetram and Kallara Kavu. It is widely believed that this temple was consecrated by Pancha Pandavar with the prime deity Krishna and that is the etymology of its name. Another main temple is Sree Sarada Temple. The reigning deity is Goddess Saraswathi, the goddess of knowledge. Fr. Thomas Viruthiyil constructed a road with the help of villagers through

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s, now called Achan Road, which provides access from Ettumannor and Palai.

Landmarks and facilities

A prominent landmark is Kallara Chantha. Kallara also has many churches of various denominations. The main schools at Kallara are: S.M.V NSS High School, S.M.V Govt.L.P.School, S.S.V.U.P School, St. Thomas High School, Govt.S.K.V.U.P.S Perumthuruth, Govt.L.P.School Kallara South, Govt.H.W.L.P.S Kallara, St. Savior's L.P.S. Paravanthuruth and Sr.Savio Public School
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Climate and geography

Kallara has similar tropical climate as the rest of the state of Kerala. The average temperature in the warmest months is about 33 °C and for colder months is 22 °C. The humidity is very high and can rise to about 90% during the monsoon seasons. During December, January and February winter temperature comes falls to around 15 °C. March, April and May, the summer months, the temperature can rise to about 36 °C. The yearly total rainfall varies from 2500 mm and 1500 mm. Kallara is affected by the Arabian Sea branch of the Southwest

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

s and the Northeast Monsoons (albeit quite less compared to the other). The Southwest monsoon extends from June to August and the Northeast monsoon extends from October to November. Flash floods occur every once in a while, especially during the Southwest Monsoon. The town is indented with numerous creeks and lakes, and is covered with lush greenery, rich in

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. Kallara is mainly divided regionally into Perumthuruth, Paravanthuruth and Kallara.

Economy

Agriculture is the main industry in Kallara. Acres of paddy fields are distributed throughout Kallara. The rubber latex industry is one of the prominent industries in the village. In addition to rubber latex, other industries are also now growing rapidly including

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

and

spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garni ...

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, and the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

are among some of them. The town's economy has an emphasis on the

service sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

. Information technology is also becoming more essential. As the Government of Kerala is promoting the construction of Infoparks. Kallara is very rapidly industrialising because of its growth in these industries. Tourism is also another growing industry. The vast backwaters of Kerala are one of the most visited areas, linked to the vast chain of rivers in Kerala. Traditional cargo boats called

kettuvallams Kettuvallam is a houseboat widely used in the Indian state of Kerala. These have thatched roof covers over wooden hulls.Ayub, Akber (ed), ''Kerala: Maps & More'', ''Backwaters'', 2006 edition 2007 reprint, p. 47, Stark World Publishing, Bang ...

are modified into cruise boats and house boats often roam the backwaters giving tourists a view of Kallara's scenic beauty.

Flora and fauna

Kallara has a very large variety of animals and plants. Many

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against her ...

can be found all throughout Kallara. Tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests make up much of the plants that grow in Kallara. Many trees such as the anjili, rosewood, and cassia grow all throughout Kallara. Abundant flora such as bamboo, aromatic vetiver grass, black pepper, calamus rattan palm and the lotus can be seen all over Kallara.

Notable people

* K K Kochu (born 1949), Indian Dalit thinker, writer and social activist