Purakkad is a village in Alappuzha district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

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 ...

. It is the beach which is described in

Thakazhi Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 7 shor ...

's novel "Chemeen".

History

There was an ancient port at Purakkad. Purakkad was known as ''Burkkare'' in ancient time. It is possibly mentioned by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

under the name Barace.Pliny, Natural History, Book 6, chap 26 Foreign traders used to stay in the place and bought local produces like black pepper. The literal meaning of Purakkad is "out of forest".
The village of Purakkad was the scene of battles between

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

and

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

forces in 1754 AD and between Travancore and

Zamorin The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited by ...

forces in 1756 AD. The

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

had a factory at that time. A crucifix was presented by Dutch seafarers who landed on Purakkad beach when their ship was lost at sea in a terrible storm. The crucifix has never been repaired since all these years. Now the church housing the crucifix faces demolition threat because of road widening plans.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Purakkad has a population of 27912 with 13751 males and 14161 females. Male literacy rate is 96% and the female literacy rate is 90%.

Places of interest

Sree Venu Gopala Swamy Temple of Purakkad is one of the oldest temples that belong to

Goud Saraswat Brahmins Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd) are a Hindu Brahmin community of the north. The Konkani speaking Gaud Saraswat of Goa and southern India claim to be descendents of these Gaud Saraswat Brahmins of the north that migrated to K ...

. The temple was built more than 400 years ago with the help of Chembakassery Raja, when a group of Goud Saraswat Brahmins migrated from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. A famous shrine of the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

community is also situated here. The Holy Cross Church, founded in 1410, was renewed as Mar Sleeva Church in 2015.

Chakara

The coast of Purakkad experiences a natural phenomenon called

Chakara A chakara (also Chaakara and in Malayalam ചാകര) is a peculiar marine phenomenon in which many fish and prawns throng together during a particular season as part of mud bank formations. The etymology relates to the local Dravidian wording "c ...

during

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 ...

season.

References

4. Mar sleeva church Villages in Alappuzha district {{Alappuzha-geo-stub