Chempu (SH-15, Kochi-Kumarakom road) is a village near

Vaikom Vaikom, , is a municipal town and a capital town of Vaikom Taluk, situated in the northwest of Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. The town is also noted for its role in the Indian independence movement for being the venue of Vai ...

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 ...

, Kerala, India. It is bounded by the shores of the Lake Vembanad, and is crossed by various distributaries of the River Muvattupuzha.

Demographics

It is inhabited by people of all communities including Arayans,

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

s, Dhewars,

Ezhava The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava'' ...

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 ...

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom hist ...

s and Namboothiris.

Etymology

The story behind the origin of name of the place is interesting. This place was an area of fishers and most of the population led their livelihood through fishing. The Brahmins who lived here were used to call the fish as 'Champa', consequently developed as Chempu.

History

Chempu is a historically important place, as it is the birthplace of

Chempil Arayan The Chempil Thailamparambil Anantha Padmanabhan Valiya Arayan Kankumaran, known as Chempil Arayan, was the Admiral of the Travancore Navy in the service of Avittam Thirunal Balarama Varma, King of Travancore. He was born at Chempu, near Vaik ...

. He was the captain of the army of

Veluthampi Dalawa Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi of Thalakulam (1765–1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1802 and 1809 during the reign of Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being on ...

, the

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. A ...

king. He was the first martyr from Tranvancore in the Indian Independence Movement.paragraph t The "Illi fort", which starts from the north-western corner of Brahmamangalam to the east owns a key role in the history of the Travancore kingdom. This fort was built during the construction of the Travancore kingdom by Marthandavarma between 1742 and 1756.The fort was used to determine the boundary between the Kochi kingdom and thereby to ensure the protection of Travancore. This was under the supervision of Ramayyan Dalawa, who was the minister of Marthandavarma.

Geography

It lies at the north-western corner of

district and the Vaikom Taluk. The village is divided into three sections: Chempu, Kattikkunu, and Brahmamangalam. The North of the village is covered by Udayamperoor and Amballoor, the East by Velloor, South with Maravanthuruthu, and the West with Vembanad lake. Murinjapuzha in an intermediator between Chempu and Kattikkunnu. Although Chempu is not an island, it is considered as a peninsula the Vembanad and Muvattupuzha river cover Chempu. Murinjapuzha bridge as the bridge which connects Kattikkunnu with Murinjapuzha (Chempu) Its distance from Kottayam is 38.4 km and from Vaikom, 6.5 km. Distance to Chempu

Topography

Chempu has cool climatic conditions. The presence of the river and lake make the soil more fertile and yielding. The main crops here are coconut, mango, etc. The topography of Brahmamangalam is entirely different from that of Chempu and Kattikkunnu. This area has more resemblance to

topography. Here the main crop is Rubber.
The average temperature here is around 27 °C and the humidity is 81%. The wind here blows from the west with an average velocity of 6 kmph

Notable people

Notable people from Chempu includes warrior

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

Mar Augustine Kandathil Augustine Kandathil (25 August 1874 – 10 January 1956) was Metropolitan and head of the Syro-Malabar Church (1923-1956). Further reading *George Thalian: , Mar Louis Memorial Press, 1961(Postscript)Chempil John, Vinod Narayanan, and the film actor

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

References

{{Kottayam district Villages in Kottayam district